Hogwarts reads HP books Series
by theblonde2243
Summary: Umbridge is still out to show that Harry is a filthy liar, when she finds a book series about his past years and year's to come, she decides to read them to the whole school, Dumbledore allows it to prove that Harry is innocent. Who will be right? Will his kids play a big part in the war? Can they change the future? Happens a little before Christmas 5th year
1. The Books

Chapter 1

Umbridge was really getting sick of Potter's constant lies. She was determined to prove to everyone that what he has been saying are truly just lies and attempts to gain popularity. She walked in her office and saw a package sitting on her desk with a note. She intently opened the note.

_Dear Miss. Umbridge_

_ We have sent seven books from the future relying on the life of Harry Potter. I would like you to read these in front of the whole school and invite this list of people_

_Remus Lupin_

_The Weasley's _

_Cornelius Fudge _

_Oliver Wood_

_Lucius Malfoy_

_Snuffles (ask Dumbledore)_

_There will be no detentions or magic used at this time. _

_ Sincerely _

_ ASP_

_Ps. These book's tell the 100% truth!_

A devious smile was placed upon the toads face. Time to prove the boy who lived is actually just the boy who lies.

HP  
HP  
HP  
HP  
HP  
Harry Sat in the common room finishing the remains of his Potions essay. Quidditch practice got canceled for unknown reasons. Harry sighed and put his quill down. He decided he would finish it tomorrow and go find where Ron and Hermione were. Sadly, professor McGonagall found him first.

"Potter, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office immediately." Without hesitating Harry followed the professor. They walked over to the familiar statue of an eagle. "Rainbow Sherbert" Minerva said. A staircase started rising. Both Harry and his teacher stepped onto it. When they reached the top Dumbledore and surprisingly Lupin and Sirius were waiting. Harry smiled at the site of them. They, though, didn't smile back, they looked furious.

"Harry, why don't you come take a seat." Dumbledore suggested, Harry obliged. A marauder stood on each side of him. "I'm guessing you are wondering why I called you up here today, and why Sirius and Remus are here with us."

"Yes Sir," Harry answered simply.

"Well, earlier today professor Umbridge came up to my office and announced that classes are canceled for tomorrow. She is going to be reading the school something important, involving you." Harry paled, who would the old toad want to read about him? It couldn't be anything good, could it?

"Wh-what about me exactly professor?"

"Your school year's here at Hogwarts. Including the years in the future." Harry was too shocked to say anything. "Now Harry I need you to understand something, the reason I'm allowing this reading is so everyone here what happened last year during the third task. This will be able to give enough proof that Voldemort is truly back at full power, not to embarrass you in every different way imaginable." Harry nodded, still a little out of color. "The rest of the Weasley's will be arriving in the morning, Sirius, you are free to go with Harry as Snuffles for the night, Remus, I've made sleeping arrangement from you else ware." Harry got up, and Sirius changed into his dog form.

"See you tomorrow Lupin, professor."Harry said walking out of the room. Tomorrow was going to be the worst possible day ever.


	2. The Boy who Lived

**An: OK there are so many of these up right now but I love them and I was bored so here's my own version of Hogwarts reading Harry Potter. Don't own anything *tears slowly come out* if I did Sirius, Remus, and Fred would be alive and well right now.**

"Hem hem" Umbridge said getting the halls attention after breakfast. "I'm glad to say that all classes are canceled today." Cheers erupted throughout the hall, everyone but Harry, who was glaring at the Toad in the pink robes. "Instead I am going to be reading you a series of books about our own celebrity Harry Potter." Whispers erupted throughout three of the four houses. "I will read first then we will choose who to read next."

"**Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone**."

The golden trio looked scarcely at each other. Everyone's going to find out the secret behind the stone.

**The Boy Who Lived**

"That's you Harry!" The twins said in unison. Harry, Hermione, Lupin, and the rest of the Weasley's sent them an evil glare, Snuffles growled, but not at the twins, but at the white haired douche that just walked in.

"A Lucius it's nice for you to join us! We were just about to start without you." Harry tensed. Why did Dumbledore let a frickin death eater in the castle?

"It's nice to be here, let's get started." He motioned Umbridge to keep reading.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

Harry looked at the twins who were holding back laughter, he smirked.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

"What the hell are drills?" the younger Malfoy asked. No one answered.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursley's had a small son called Dudley, and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

Everyone, including Harry laughed at the description, Harry was more laughing at the fact the Dursley's thought there was no finer boy then Dudley.

**The Dursley's had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"What do they have against the Potters?" Remus and Minerva asked. Harry just motioned his least favorite teacher to keep reading.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

"UnDursleyish is not a word!" complained most of the Ravenclaws and Hermione.

**The Dursley's shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potter's arrived in the street. The Dursley's knew that the Potter's had a small son too but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"I wouldn't want my kid around Harry either…" Fred said

"He's loads of bad luck." George finished.

"Hey I can have good luck!" Harry protested.

"Name a time you had good luck!" Ron challenged, obviously teaming up with his brothers.

"Defeating Voldemort four times!" Almost the whole hall flinched at Riddles name. Umbridge and Fudge tensed. The whole hall was silent for a moment before the twins spoke again.

"What got you to fight…"

"…him was bad luck though." Everyone stifled laughter, though the room was still insanely tense. Umbridge continued.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. **

**Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, And Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was not having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. **

"Pleasant baby," Molly Weasley said.

**"Little tyke." chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive. It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar- a cat reading a map.**

"Minne!" Harry, the twins, Lupin, Bill, and Charley yelled, which received each of them getting a death glare.

**For a second Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen- then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive- no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. **

"Bet you a galleon that McGonagall won't like the Dursley's by the end of the day…" Harry whispered to Ron.

"You're on!"

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. **

**As he drove around town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to have a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. **

"They really should've been more careful!" yelled Madam Pomfrey.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes-the get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.**

Lots of pure bloods and half bloods looked confused at this.

**He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on the huddle of these weirdoes standing close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald green cloak!**

More confused looks.

**The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt- these people were obviously collecting for something... yes that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

**Mr. Dursley always sat with is back to the window in his off on the ninth floor. If he hadn't he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen and owl even in night time. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.**

"That's where he learned to yell." Harry whispered, no one but Lupin and Snuffles heard, they both looked worriedly at Him.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery. He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch was whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag,**

"Not like he needs any more doughnuts…" Ginny stated, making half the Great Hall burst into laughter.

**that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard-"**

**"-Yes, their son, Harry-"**

People glanced over the Harry, he and everyone else finally knew what day it was.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them but thought better of it. **

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing is home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking... no he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure is nephew was called Harry, he'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

"He didn't even know your own name!" Exclaimed Hermione, Ginny, and the Gryffindor chasers. Harry shrugged.

"I still don't think he does." The girls looked worriedly at their brother from another mother.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her- if he'd had a sister like that...**

"Like what?" Asked a second year Hufflepuff. No one answered.

**But all the same, these people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry." he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. **

"That was your uncle?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"Wait that was you?" Harry asked surprised. His charms teacher nodded.

**It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even muggles like yourself should be celebrating this happy, happy day!"**

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off. **

The students and staff saw and Flitwick turned cherry red. The kids laughed while the teachers glared at him.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"Why?" sneered a fourth year slytherin.

"The Dursley's don't approve of anything out of the ordinary because my mom was a witch." Harry explained.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw- and it didn't improve is mood- was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same marking around the eyes.**

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

Harry looked at his friends, the three of them burst out laughing, only a few understood why, they've gotten that look so many times.

**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").**

"He learned to use that word a lot too."Harry mumbled. The people who heard him looked at him confused.

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

"**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

"**Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

"Is that Uncle Ted, Tonks dad?" Ron asked his parents, they nodded.

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters… Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously.**

"I'd be nervous too…" Said Harry, Ron and Hermione.

**"Er — Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

Harry, Remus, and Snuffles let out a low growl.

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…"**

"**So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

"**Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… her crowd."**

More confused looks.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son — he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

"**I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

"**What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

"**Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"No it's not!" about half the school yelled. Harry blushed.

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."** **He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? **

"we thought..."

"..He doesn't approve of imagination." The twins said, a stern looked on their face.

**Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

"Sadly I had too…" Harry said, more and more people looked confused at him.

**The Dursley's got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on — he yawned and turned over — it couldn't affect them**…

**How very wrong he was.**

"Why couldn't he have been right?"

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness**

**It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.**

Harry looked over at Dumbledore. What was he doing on Private Drive?

**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore**

Many people cheered, Harry just kept looking at the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

"I Knew."

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

"I want one of those!" Draco and Ron yelled in synch, they then sent glares at each other that made everyone, even Snape, Fudge, and Umbridge laugh.

**He clicked it again — the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall**. **He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. **

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

People laughed.

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.** **"You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no — even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news."** **She jerked her head back at the Dursley' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors." She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

"No." "Yes" Umbridge and Harry said at the same time.

"He who must not be named is not back!" she explained.

"Then say his name, because like Hermione said my second year going to Hogwarts, 'fear of a name increases the fear of a person itself.'" That shut Umbridge up, Harry smiled over at Hermione who smiled back.

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore.**

**"We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

"A what?"

**"A what?"**

"**A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

"They are quite good." Hermione said. Dumbledore snapped a finger and at each table was a big bowl of lemon drops. They started passing them around and eating them silently.

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops.**

**"As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone —"**

"Which he is." Fudge put in, many people, including Dumbledore and Harry, glared at the Minister.

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."**

Many people shuttered, a couple of people even screamed. Harry seemed irritated.

"Really guys It's just a name!"

"We know that Harry." Hermione said.

"Then say is name!"

"Vo-Voldemort." She stuttered. Harry seemed pleased.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

**"I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

"**You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

"**Only because you're too — well —noble to use them."**

"**It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

Eww's were heard across the hall, Madam Pomfrey was blushing as for Dumbledore.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"**What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters.** **The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are — are — that they're — dead."**

Everyone in the Hall, except for Umbridge bowed their heads in remembrance. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Remus, and even Snuffles looked by far the saddest.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

"**Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke — and that's why he's gone."**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"**It's — it's **_**true**_**?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"**We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

"Love" Dumbledore said loud enough for the whole loud to hear.

"What was that professor?" Ginny asked.

"Lily's sacrificed herself to save Harry, his mother's love is what saved Harry that night." Everyone stared at Harry, the Quidditch team glared at everyone, who looked away intently.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, **

**"Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why **_**you're here, of all places?"**

"**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

**You don't mean – you **_**can't **_**mean the people who live **_**here**_**?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore — you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

"Pay up." Harry whispered to Ron, who grumbled and pulled out a galleon, placing it in Harry's hand. The twins smirked, their brilliance was rubbing off on their brothers.

**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A _**letter**_?" Hermione, Ginny, Molly, Cho, and a couple other girls yelled.

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. **

**"Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?"**

**These people will never understand him! He'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future **

Harry's face paled, just the thought of that made him sick.

— **There will be books written about Harry — every child in our world will know his name!"**

"You have to remind me?" Harry said, frowning.

"Stop acting like you hate it Potter!" Harry tensed and sent the Malfoy's a look.

**"Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it…**

"**Hagrid's bringing him."**

"**You think it —**_**wise **_— **to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"I would trust Hagrid with my life." Harry, Hermione, and all the Weasley's (minus Percy) said.

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

Snuffles barked and waved his tail happily. Remus smiled remembering the first thing they did with that bike was prank the Dursley's.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so **_**wild **_— **long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. **

**In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

Many people in the hall looked scared at the mention of Sirius, Snuffles, though, just barked barked and kept wagging his tail.

**"No problems, were there?"**

"**No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

"Awww" Almost all the women and girls, even the Slytherin cooed. Harry's face went new shades of red.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. **

"You were quite a cute baby." McGonagall said, making Harry more and more red.

**Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

"**Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever**

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

Harry did his best to hide the scar with his hair.

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.**

"Do you really?" Seamus asked. Dumbledore nodded.

**Well — give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursley's house.**

"**Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. **

More Aww's and Eww's throughout the hall, Harry replied by putting his head on the table.

**Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!"**

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles —"**

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

"You left him on the bloody doorstep!" Ginny yelled.

"Ginny! Language!" yelled the population of the Weasley's. Ginny's ears turned as red as her hair.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

"**Good luck, Harry,"**

"Thank's professor I'm going to need it." Harry said hazily, head still on the table. Dumbledore knew the kid was having nightmares, but was it really this bad?

**He murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, **

"Perfect way to start the morning." The twins chanted.

**He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"**

"That's the end of the chapter," Umbridge announced. She looked over to see Harry's head on the table. "Mr. Potter, why don't you read next?" Harry looked up.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes," Harry sighed as the book floated over to him.

"**The Vanishing Glass,**"

**An: Well that's it, should I put up another chapter? Any suggestions? R&R**


	3. The Vanishing Glass

**An: Oh my god guys thank you so much! The hour or two after I put it up I already had four story alerts and 3 reviews! Now one of the anonymous reviews asked why people keep hearing Harry when he's muttering under his breath, well the reason why Remus and Sirius/Snuffles can hear them is because they have sharper ears because dogs have better hearing then humans, Snuffles is a dogs, and Remus is a werewolf, hope that helps. Also to that anonymous review, I wanted to have one of the twins tagged because they're going to be bigger parts of the story later.**

**Thank you to Dndchk Who has offered to help out with the story, much thanks is given.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter, The amazing J.K. Rowling owns him *sighs***

"**The Vanishing Glass"**

Harry smiled at the memory- he would send a python on Dudley like that again any day. The smile faded when he realized that no one, not even Ron and Hermione, knew of what the Dursleys used to do to him, or that he lived in the cupboard for almost ten years. He sighed and started reading.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all.**

**The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursley's front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets —**

"Awww…" Fred started,

"Isn't little inkle Diddlykins-"

"So Cute-"

"In little wittle bonnets?" George finished, and the hall burst into laughter. Harry continued.

**But Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby,**

"Tell me about it…" Harry interrupted himself.

**and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"Where are you Harry?" Ron asked. Harry just ignored him.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

"**Up! Get up! Now!"**

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

"**Up!" she screeched.**

Snape cringed his forehead at the mere memory of Petunia's voice. How was that boy able to live with her?

**Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"You remember that?" Minerva asked. Harry nodded.

**His aunt was back outside the door.** "**Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"**Nearly," said Harry.**

People laughed. Harry sighed. He was glad he didn't have to wake up like that anymore.

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"They made you cook?" asked Hermione, Harry nodded.

"On the other hand," One of the twins said.

"Duddy?" the other one said.

"Oh believe me it gets better." Harry smirked.

**Harry groaned.**

"**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

"He didn't say anything!" Ginny and Hermione snapped back.

"**Nothing, nothing…"**

A smirk spread across the two girls' faces.

**Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider** **off one of them,**

Ron shuttered at the mere thought of spiders.

"Harry, why are there spiders under your bed?" asked a first year Gryffindor.

**put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

A shockwave of silence hit the great hall. The famous Harry Potter slept in a cupboard under the stairs? Harry didn't feel comfortable in the silence. Everyone was staring at him, even Snape. He continued, reading a little faster now.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

"What are all of those?" a seventh year Slytherin asked. No one answered.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

"I swear…" Harry cut Ron off and continued reading.

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry,**

Many of the Gryffindors, plus Remus and Snuffles tensed.

**but he couldn't often catch him.**

That calmed everyone down.

"That's his seeker's instincts there!" Wood and a couple of Quidditch players stated.

**Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast**. **Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

Madam Pomfrey looked worriedly at Harry. Did they starve the poor boy? She was going to have a word with Dumbledore after this chapter…

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was.**

A few people chuckled at how big Dudley was, others were still looking worriedly at Harry.

**Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair, and bright green eyes.**

"James…" Minerva said.

"Lily's eyes…" Remus stated. Harry smiled, he secretly loved when people said he had his mom's eyes.

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

"You used to like your scar?" Ron asked, and Harry nodded.

"It was something Dudley would never be able to have."

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

"**In the car crash when your parents died," she had said.**

"James and Lily Potter did not die in a car crash!" Many yelled; some of the teachers looked outraged. Umbridge smiled at the fact that Harry had suffered, and been lied to for half of his life.

"**And don't ask questions."**

"How are you going to learn if you're not supposed to ask questions?" asked Molly and Arthur Weasley.

_**Don't ask questions**_**- that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursley's**

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

"**Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting**

"Never going to happen, you've got the Potter curse." Remus smiled.

"The Potter what?" Harry asked.

"The Potter curse, that's what your father called your family's hair." Remus laughed. Harry smiled.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place.**

"How often did you get a haircut?" Ron asked curiously.

"Every two weeks or so." Harry stated rather seriously, making everyone laugh.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head.**

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel**

"Sounds more like a Pig in a wig to me…" Ginny said to the twins.

— **Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

People laughed at the remark. The twins looked at Ginny whose face was burning red.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"Even I don't get that much!" exclaimed Malfoy. Everyone looked at him incrediously. Malfoy looked at his father for help.

"Well, Draco, you never asked for more than thirty-four." Many people laughed at the Death Eater's joke.

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see,it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."**

"Wait, is that the Aunt you blew up?" Ron asked Harry, who nodded. People gave him incredulous looks.

"Accidental magic third year, just…you'll see." Harry shrugged.

"**All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

"His temper tantrums can be scary…"

"And this is coming from the dude who defeated Voldemort!" Katie Bell laughed.

"You said his name!" Harry said happily.

"Yeah... yeah, I guess I did."

**Aunt Petunia obviously sensed danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?"**

"You spoiled little-" Fred threw a hand over his sister's mouth, he didn't want her to get in more trouble than she normally would for swearing, especially in front of mum and dad. Ginny licked his hand and he let go quickly, wiping it on his robes.

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"**

"The git didn't even know how to count!"

"Fred! George! Watch your mouth in front of your mother!" Molly scolded. The twins slouched down in their seat.

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"**Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel.**

**"All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.** "**Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

"Don't encourage him!" said Professor Babbling.

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR.**

"Objects muggles use for entertainment," Dean explained before any of the Pure or half-bloods could ask.

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mgrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him."**

"_He _as in _Harry_" explained Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. Harry smiled at the fact his friends were sticking up for him.

**She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mgrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

"She made you look at pictures of her cats?" Ron asked surprised.

"I'd rather that now then to have gone to the zoo…"

"**Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this.**

"Why would I plan something like that? If anything it would have been Dudley doing that!" Harry said furiously.

"Harry, you're yelling at a book." Hermione laughed. "I never thought I would see the day!"

Harry rolled his eyes and kept reading.

**Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mgrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mar. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"Harry!" Ginny and Hermione tutted. Hermione hit him upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For not feeling sorry for that poor old lady who, as a matter of fact, helped keep you safe all those years!" Everyone looked at Hermione, confused.

"She's a squib, stays in contact with Professor Dumbledore." She nodded her head toward the teachers table.

"**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

"**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

"And I hate her right back."

**The Dursley's often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

"**What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?"**

"**On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

"**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

"Not going to happen Harry," the twins said together.

"Hey, back than it was worth a shot."

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

"**And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

"**I won't blow up the house," said Harry,**

"Harry-" Fred started.

"Will you help us with-" George continued.

"A little prank?"

"NO!" Remus and the teachers cried, now very worried.

"Why not?" asked the twins. Everyone was too scared to answer, all knowing if they found out that Harry was Prongs son, they wouldn't leave him alone.

"Yeah, why not, Moony?" Harry asked with a smirk. The twins looked in between the ex-professor and their non-blood brother in shock.

"Wait yo-your Moony? As in the Marauders Moony?" asked Fred, actually stuttering a bit.

"Who're the rest?"

Remus sighed. "Padfoot is Sirius Black, Wormtail is Peter Pettigrew, and Prongs is James Potter."

"YOU'RE A SON OF A MARAUDER?" the twins yelled at Harry in unison.

"We'll talk later." Harry said, grinning at them.

**but they weren't listening.**

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car…"**

"**That car's new; he's not sitting in it alone…"**

"Albus I'm going to need a word with you after this chapter." Minerva murmered to the Headmaster.

"Me too sir." Madam Pomfrey added. Snape nodded in agreement.

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"**Dinky Duddydums,**

Everyone burst out laughing.

"I-I told y-you it gets b-better!" Harry laughed. Once everyone calmed down Harry continued.

**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

"Harry wouldn't ruin it-" George said.

"He would make it more awesome!" Fred finished.

"**I… don't… want… him… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother.**

**Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursley's' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

"**I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"Before any of you say anything, he never did anything like that, he just threatened, and I was at Hogwarts by than anyway." Harry said quickly. Several people still frowned.

"**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…"**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursley's he didn't make them happen.**

"Accidental magic," half the hall said.

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.**

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this,**

Harry heard people growl and glare at the book. He looked up to even see some people reaching for their wands, though he didn't know how much help they would be.

**even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls).**

"I'd rather die!" Lavender Brown whispered to one of the Patil twins.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry.**

"Harry, I think it would have fit you perfectly." Ron said sarcasticly.

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

"Good!" Many students and teachers muttered.

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.**

"You Aparrated?" Ron asked.

"Ah, Mr. Weasley, I believe he flew instead, If I remember correctly, it happened to Lily once before," Dumbledore explained.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**

"Mate we need-"

"To teach you how to lie." The twins shook their heads solemnly.

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mgrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects.**

"Welcome to the club," muttered Umbridge. No one heard.

**This morning, it was motorcycles.**

Snuffles barked.

"…**roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"Harry! Are you bloody stupid!" Hermione yelled slapping him on the head.

"Ow! What is with you girls and your hitting?"

"Just read."

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

"Yes they do, oh smart one," Ron said.

"So do cars." Harry added smirking at Ron. Mrs. Weasley looked at the two disapprovingly.

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

"Memory," Draco corrected.

"I know that Malfoy, now shut up."

Several people chuckled. Both Malfoys looked about to burst.

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

The twins looked deviously at Harry. No one but Remus noticed, who mouthed NO before they could say anything.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop.**

"I love those," Luna said dreamily.

"Me too," Harry said, smiling in her direction.

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head and looking remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

"That is an insult to the gorilla and its kind!" Ginny yelled, making the hall laugh.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting him.**

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"Never is mate, never is." Ron said, patting him on the shoulder.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons.**

**Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

"In other words, once around Uncle Vermin-"

"And twice around Dudley." Ron finished for Harry. The twins glared at the two. Finishing each other's sentences was their thing!

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils. **"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

"**Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

"**This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

"Snakes can't wink- they don't have eyelids," said a fifth year Ravenclaw.

"Maybe it was because you're a Parseltongue that it just seemed like it winked," Hermione said thoughtfully.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

"He's gone mad!" someone yelled from the Slytherin table.

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley,then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:** "**I get that all the time."**

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

Kids third year and unde,r plus the Minister and Umbridge, looked at Harry in shock.

"He's a Parselmouth!" Umbridge yelled. "He must have been the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets in his second year!"

"Now Dolores, let's not go blaming people for things they didn't do. The man who opened the chamber of secrets was Tom Riddle, as you should find out in the next book," Dumbledore said calmly.

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

"**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

"**Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

"You prat!" yelled Ginny. The rest of her family shot her looks about her language. She ignored them.

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.**

"Maybe we should've given more than that toffee last year Forge, because it sounds like Duddy was more trouble than we thought for our little bro."

"I agree with you Gred, let's find Lee and plan." The twins nodded at one another, grinning evilly.

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they leapt back with howls of horror.**

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

"Brilliant, Harry!" Colin Creevy yelled.

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigo."**

"My first real friend." Harry said, a little wistfully.

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.** "**But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

"It disappeared!"

"Like magic!" some people said, fake gasping.

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. '**

**But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

"Why?" Hermione asked.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

Tension rose in the hall. Minerva decided to try to break it.

"You're much like your father you know…" she said nicely. "Sneaking into the kitchens for food."

"Got your mum's tongue though," Remus added.

"And her eyes." Dumbledore added. Snape's heart clenched at the memory of Lily.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died.**

"Because there was no car crash!" A first year Hufflepuff yelled.

**Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

Harry stopped a moment, the memory flashing in his head. He must have zoned out, because next thing he knew, Remus was shaking his shoulder.

"Are you alright, Harry?" he asked.

"Wh-yeah." Remus nodded, though he didn't believe him. He glanced down at the black dog. They exchanged looks, agreeing that they were going to talk to Harry about this later.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.**

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened;**

**the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too.**

"We're not strange! Muggles are," said a Slytherin.

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

"Maybe you saw the Knight Bus," Hermione thought aloud.

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"That's the end of the chapter." Harry sighed with relief. "Who wants to read next?"

"I will," Dumbledore said, holding his hand out. Harry let the book float over to him. "But first, let's take a quick break to stretch our legs, shall we?" Everyone nodded eagerly as they stood up to leave.

**An: Well that's it until next time! *sigh's sadly* Reviews are always loved.**


	4. A trip through the pastbreak

**An: Ok first off, I'm so pleased! Please keep the reviews coming! Love them more than anything!**

**As always thank you to the awesome Dndchk who is my second pair of eyes on the story.**

**Disclaimer: yeah, yeah, yeah I don't own the most amazing world of Harry Potter the amazing JK Rowling owns that.**

_On October 31, 2020_

_Halloween-Gryffindor common room_

"Did you get it Rose?" James asked when his cousin walked into the common room.

"Yeah, are you sure we should be doing this? I mean, Albus already sent the books back, so what more help do they need?" Rose frowned at him.

"Well, we read the books; you saw how unbelievably stupid Fudge and that hag Umbridge were." At that moment Albus walked through the portrait hole. "Did you get them back?" James asked. Albus nodded.

"Getting the cloak back was easy, it was getting all these ingredients that was hard."

"Alright. Rose? Can you explain to him what the potion will do while I grab my cauldron?" Rose nodded, turning to her younger cousin as James climbed up to his dorm.

"This potion is called the Time-Warp potion. It's quite easy to brew but usually illegal for most wizards to use or make. It will bring us to any time in history and allow us to stay there for up to a year, which would only be a minute or so in our time. However, there are dangers when it comes to changing the past." Albus nodded, letting the information sink in. Neither he, James, or Rose were afraid of breaking the rules, especially if it was this crucial. It seemed Hagrid was right- they were more like their parents than people gave credit for. James came back down seconds later with his black cauldron.

It only took Rose ten minutes time to brew the potion, which was a shimmering golden brown. Albus grabbed three cups and poured some of the potion in for the each of them. He then sighed- he was going to miss his family.

"Are you guys sure we shouldn't bring Hugo and Lily with us?" Rose asked. The boys shook their heads.

"They're too young, we don't have the time to worry about and protect the two of them." Rose nodded sadly. Albus looked at his brother.

"By the way James, if we die attempting to do this, I'm so haunting your ass!" With that they all chugged the potion. Everything then went black.

_Hogwarts_, Present Day

_Empty Transfiguration classroom_

"Harry James Potter you have some major explaining to do!" The Weasley's (minus Percy), Hermione, Remus, and Sirius, now human, exclaimed. Harry could tell they weren't mad at him, probably more at Dumbledore if they were angry at anyone.

"Alright, what do you want me to explain?" he asked calmly.

"Well-"

"Don't even start, you two!" Sirius snapped. Harry gave the twins a look telling they'll talk later.

"Why didn't you tell us what those Dursleys did to you!"Hermione asked. She looked on the verge of tears. Harry shrugged.

"First off, I knew you would react like this, second, it's in the past, and I didn't want any of you feeling pity for me. Besides, after I got my wand, they were all scared of me." No one seemed to calm down at that.

Mrs. Weasley started pacing. "You are not going back there! I will not let Dumbledore send you back there!" she yelled.

"Have fun trying to convince him, but by all means, please try!" Harry said exasperatedly, leaving the room. He wasn't going to let his friends mope over his life. Besides, he knew his teachers were probably talking to Dumbledore right now about him living with the Weasleys or Sirius.

Harry felt his scar prickle slightly. He rubbed it, almost unconsciously. It wasn't uncommon for it to do it these days. It also wasn't uncommon for his temper to flare unexpectedly. He slowly started heading back to the Great Hall.

"Harry!" The twins ran up next to him. "We need to talk."

"Look, if you are wanting me help prank the school, then... I'm all with you." The twins looked at him in shock. "What?"

"Well we thought-" Fred started.

"-that it would take more convincing." Harry sighed. "Look guys, Voldemort's back," the twins flinched at the name. Harry ignored it. "And not many people believe me about it, or the books. I just need to do something fun instead of 'saving the world' for once. So what did you have in mind for Prongslet?" The twins smiled at Harry.

"Meet us in the common room-"

"At midnight-"

"And we'll plan from there."

Harry nodded. "Hey guys?" he said, looking up at the pranksters.

"Yes?" they said in unison.

"Thanks for not freaking out on me about, you know, everything."

"No problem Prongslet-"

"-someone needs to break the family tension." Harry laughed and headed back to the great hall, the twins on either side of him.

**An: Yeah, yeah it's short, don't kill me another one will be up later today, the big prank should be coming up near the end of the first book, kind of a twist with Rose, James, and Albus, they will be coming up sooner than later. Now for the reviews.**

_**Werewolfgirl11- **_**thanks and very much review!**

**Now anonymous-**

_**I wish I was a parseltongue. Talking to snakes would be cool! XD Fred and George are gonna have so much fun w/ their little brother now that they know he's Prongslet! Lol- **_**I wouldn't be able to stand talking to snakes! I'm horrified by them! And yes the twins and Harry have an awesome prank coming up, thank you so much for the review!**

_**LEASE UPDATE SOON! Not sure if it was deliberate or not, but i love the "Uncle Vermin" part!**_**-Thanks and I do to!**

_**please please continue its so funny and interesting,this and the 20,00 others fanfictions i read are what i need to live**_**-don't worry, sticking with the story for a while, and I do know I can't live without them either, my parents think I'm insane for like it though, thanks for the review!**

_**:Well, I like it, but...  
- Hermione hit him in head? - Coz he feel that way? He can't help that they  
read his thougts, beside why wasn't she angry at her for letting Harry's  
neglect and abuse continue? Like she said she was there to protect him, and  
she did nothing! Why aren't people more angry at Dumbledore? He knew that  
"they didn't treat him well". For people who care for him they didn't show it.**_**- Thank you so much for te honest review! I will try harder for them to show it. **

**IF WE REACH 10 REVIEWS BY THE TIME THE NEXT CHAPTER IS UP YOU EACH GET A VIRTURAL BOX OF CHOCOLATE FROGS!**


	5. The Letters From No One

**An: Again thanks for all the reviews and story alerts, and favorites for my story! It's what keeps me happy everyday!**

**Sorry for the delay (what was it a week?) it's been kind of hectic, and my mom stole my laptop. She went to Summer Fest today so I stole it back, I'm going to try to find my flashdrive so I can type on my bro's computer during the time my mom has my laptop so yeah. **

**Ok I finished this chapter and is feeling very good about it, though I kind of think Harry is very bipolar and maybe a little OOC, but he was throughout the fifth book anyway right?**

**As always thank you to Dndchk for reading over the chapter.**

**(**Dndchk here- you're welcome. :P It's my pleasure.**)**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't own anything.**

Everyone gathered in the Great Hall after their break, most of the Gryffindors and teachers looking worriedly at Harry. Harry did his best to ignore it. Dumbledore simply cleared his throat to get everyone to shut up.

"**The** **Letters From No One."**

"They're not from no one Harry-"

"They're from Minnie!" The twins explained.

"I know that guys," Harry laughed.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment.**

**By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started**

"When's his birthday?" Hermione asked.

"A month before mine…" More worried looks. "It wasn't that bad…"

**and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs Figgs she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

Everyone was speechless.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.**

Ron chuckled, "That's like saying Goyle is leader instead of Malfoy." Everyone except the Slytherins and the teachers laughed.

"Ten points from Gryffindor!" Snape snapped. The Gryffindors all groaned.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favourite sport: Harry Hunting.**

"I thought he hated exercising?" someone from the Ravenclaw table yelled.

"Oh he does, that's why I won almost every time." Harry smirked. People still didn't look happy .

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley.**

"Well Harry, I wouldn't consider Hogwarts as a secondary school-" The twins started.

"But we don't mean to burst your bubble!"

'Uhh guys? I don't think I meant it that way." Harry chipped in.

"Well what else could you have meant? He's in the same grade as you isn't he?" Hermione asked. Harry just signaled Dumbledore to keep reading.

**Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school.**

"_Smeltings?"_ The whole hall laughed.

**Dudley thought this was very funny.**

"**They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall,"** **he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

"**No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick."**

"Wow, you really always had the Gryffindor bravery." Ernie Macmillan called out from the Hufflepuff table.

**Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

"I still don't think he's figured out what I said," Harry said seriously.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs Figg's.**

**Mrs Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**

Everyone, even Remus, who was a chocoholic, looked grossed out.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters.**

"And they say we dress weirdly." Draco sneered.

"For once Malfoy, I actually agree with you," Harry said. Shocked faces looked between the two enemies. Dumbledore, with a twinkle in his eye, kept reading.

**They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"...Really?" Hermione asked faintly.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up.**

**Harry didn't trust himself to speak.** **He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in grey water.**

"**What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

"**Your new school uniform," she said.**

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

"**Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

"That's a knee slapper Harry!" the twins fake-laughed.

"Thank you, thank you- I'm here all week!" Harry stood and bowed, which strongly reminded Remus of James.

"**Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dying some of Dudley's old things grey for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue.**

"Sounds like you were going to be wearing elephant skin." Ginny sighed. Harry simply just smirked.

**He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

Ginny blushed crimson, making some people laugh.

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

"**Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"Professor, are you sure you read that right?" Bill asked.

"Yes Mr. Weasley, I did. Maybe Vernon had a change of heart."

"Don't count on that sir." Harry sighed.

"**Make Harry get it."**

**Get the mail, Harry."**

"**Make Dudley get it."**

"**Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

"Maybe we should get some of those to teach these Muggles a lesson." Pansy giggled.

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill and— **_**a letter for Harry**_**.**

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would?**

"Uhh, everyone!" Colin Creevey stated.

"Ginny sent you a valentine since she knew who you were!" the twins and Ron chorused.

"That was you? I thought it was Dudley with some cruel joke!" Both Harry and Ginny were blushing.

"You got them?" Harry nodded.

**He had no friends, no other relatives — he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back.**

"Harry James Potter you aren't a member of the library!" None other than Hermione Granger practically yelled.

"Nope."

**Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

_**Mr H. Potter**_

_**The Cupboard under the Stairs 4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging**_

_**Surrey**_

"You know what Harry-"

"We think it's for the other Harry Potter-"

"The more attractive one who Ginny Weasley loves." The twins and Charlie smirked while Ginny's face turned redder than her hair.

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.**

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion,**

All the Gryffindors yelled.

**an eagle**

All the Ravenclaws cheered.

**a badger,**

The Hufflepuffs cheered.

**and a snake**

Nothing.

**surrounding a large letter **_**H**_**.**

Everyone, even the Slytherins this time, cheered.

"**Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?"**

"That's so second year." The twins and Remus laughed at their separate memories. Mrs. Weasley glared at the two young tricksters remembering the long note concerning the incident.

**He chuckled at his own joke.**

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter.**

"Oh, this isn't going to end well," Hermione commented.

**He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

"**Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…"**

"**Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter,** **which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

"**That's **_**mine**_**!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

**Who'd be writing to you?"**

"Haven't we gone through this already?" Ginny asked, still embarrassed to think that Harry got those stupid letters.

**sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights.**

Many half and purebloods looked confused.

**And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the greyish white of old porridge.**

"**P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

"Drama queen." Ron muttered.

"Tell me about it." Harry, and surprisingly, Snape chorused. Harry eyed his professor suspiciously, but didn't say anything.

"**Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!"**

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

"**I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

"_**I **_**want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's **_**mine**_**."**

"**Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

"Oh Harry." Hermione, the Weasleys, and anyone else who knew how stubborn Harry was mumbled.

"**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"Lily…" Remus said sadly. She was quite temperamental.

"**Let **_**me **_**see it!" demanded Dudley.**

"**OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole;**

**Dudley won,** **so Harry,** **his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

"Wait, why were they dangling from one ear?"someone asked. Harry just shrugged.

"**Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

"**Watching — spying — might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

"Why would we ever want to stalk you?" Snape sneered.

"**But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want —"**

"Like that would be enough to keep Harry Potter from Hogwarts." Minerva chuckled.

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

"**No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… Yes, that's best… we won't do anything…"**

"**But —"**

"**I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

"Harry," Mrs. Weasley started, her face crimson from anger, "Please tell me that they never did that to you."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Weasley, but if I told you that I would be lying, and if I've learned one thing in DADA this year it's I must not tell lies." He glared up at Umbridge, who smirked back at him.

Hermione had tears in her eyes. Harry pulled her into a hug immediately, not caring how much of a scene he was making. Ron looked more shocked than anything. Thankfully Harry was able to calm Hermione down a bit before Dumbledore continued.

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"He fit?" Fred asked.

"No, just his head, but barely." Harry laughed.

"**Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

"**No one. It was addressed to you by mistake,"**

"Told you it was for the other Harry Potter!" George yelled breaking the tension in the room.

**said Uncle Vernon shortly. **"**I have burned it."**

**It was **_**not **_**a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

"**SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling.**

Ron shuddered at the thought of spiders.

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful." Er- yes Harry- about his cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it…**

"Why thank you, Captain Obvious!" growled Ginny.

**we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

"The bloody pig had two bedrooms and you were stuck in a cupboard?" Hermione yelled, scaring everyone in the room.

"'Hermione, calm down, it's fine," Harry reassured her. No one believed him though.

"**Why?" said Harry.**

"Harry, just take it, don't ask the reason." Neville said calmly.

**Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors** **(usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom.**

**It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room.**

**He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbour's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favourite program had been cancelled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

"Still never has been." Harry chipped in. Hermione glared at him. "What?"

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't **_**want **_**him in there… I **_**need **_**that room… make him get out…"**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back.**

"You children even think about doing that me or your father you will never see the light of day again." Molly warned. All of the Weasleys (including Harry and Hermione) nodded, their eyes wide.

**Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it.**

**They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —'"**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.**

The trio looked at each other and burst into laughter. Everyone looked at them, confused. They just shook their heads.

"You'll find out soon enough," they choked out.

**After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, **Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.

"**Go to your cupboard — I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley — go — just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

"Oh Merlin," most of the Gryffindors and teachers said.

"Hey! My plans aren't that bad!"

"Um, Harry almost every plan you've had since we started school has A: Almost gotten us killed, B: Almost gotten us expelled or, C: gone terribly wrong and you somehow come face to face with You-Know-Who," Hermione explained. Harry smiled sheepishly at his friends.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first.**

"Well the plan seems good-" Fred commented.

"Now all he needs is a bit of good luck!" more laughter from everyone who knew Harry's luck.

**His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door —**

"Three, two, one—"

"**AAAAARRRGH!"**

"Nice job mate." Harry high fived Ron.

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something **_**alive**_**!**

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face.**

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"**I want —" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

"**See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't **_**deliver **_**them they'll just give up."**

"Wow. Just... wow." Minerva said. Fred leaned towards to his twin.

"A sickle says Vernon will go crazy by the end of the chapter."

"You're on." They shook.

"**I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

"**Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.**

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out.**

**He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two-dozen eggs**

"Creative," Cho Chang commented.

**that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window.**

**While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

"**Who on earth wants to talk to **_**you **_**this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"EVERYONE!" Almost everyone who wasn't a Slytherin yelled. Harry put his head on the table to hide his red face.

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.** "**No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today —"**

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.**

"Catch it Harry catch it!" The twins cheered.

"**Out! OUT!" Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall.**

"He didn't really throw me, he more shoved me."

**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

"**That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

**He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head** **for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

"Spoiled git," Ginny said. Molly glared at her for her language.

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while.**

"**Shake 'em off… shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering…**

"Wondering what?" Ron asked.

"Not too sure. Probably who the letters were coming from," Harry said, shrugging.

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day.**

"That's not breakfast!" Madam Pomfrey said.

**hey had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

"'**S'cuse me, but is one of you Mr H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

_**Mr H. Potter**_

_**Room 17**_

_**Railview Hotel**_

_**Cokeworth**_

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way.** **The woman stared.**

"**I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

"**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her.**

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a ploughed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

"**Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon.**

Fred held out his hand. His brother rolled his eyes and handed him a sickle.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared. It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.**

"**It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a **_**television**_**."**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it **_**was**_**Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" Everyone who didn't know yelled.

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year,the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**

Angry murmurs erupted in the hall. Dumbledore calmly cleared his throat and continued. All Harry knew was his next birthday was most likely going to be the best yet.

**Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

"Just three hundred and sixty five days, no biggy." Bill joked.

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling.** **He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

"**Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

**Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-grey water below them.**

**I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas.**

Madam Pomfrey glanced nervously at Harry then glared at the book.

**He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shrivelled up.**

"**Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

People looked worriedly at Harry.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

"In my office, wondering why I hadn't received a reply from you yet," said McGonagall, smiling slightly.

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.**

"Nahh you'd just die."

"Well, it seemed like an option then." Harry calmly answered.

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him**

"Oh he was awoken alright," Harry chuckled. Everyone looked at him in interest.

— **three… two… one…**

**BOOM.**

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"Who?" A first year Ravenclaw asked.

"That's the end of the chapter," Dumbledore answered. "So," he continued, "Who wants to read next?"

**An: Stupid place to end I know, but hey, I need your help, I know this takes place before Christmas and Hagrid doesn't come in until the Quidditch match, but who wants Hagrid now? Comment your response.**

**Who's ready for more Rose, Albus, and James next chapter?**

**(**Dndchk- Ooh, ooh! *jumps up and down waving hands in the air* Me! Me! Me!**)**

**Reviews:**

_**Dndchk**__:_ _Oh, can't wait to see how they handle being thrown into the future! Hehe. Love the idea!-_Thank you and I can't wait either!

_**Guest**_: _Hi this is really good and you update really fast! It!s a great story and please update soon! :)_ _x_-Thank you I'm kind of addicted to the story so I will be updating a lot.

_**Guest:**_ _Where's ch 5?  
Ps. love your story so far... :D_- Thank you and here it is xD

_**Igor De Souza Santos**_: _bom_- why thank you

_**RandomFandom5**_: _Update. Please. I love those "Hogwarts reading the books because Umbridge wants to prove that Harry is a big fat liar" stories._- Here's the update :) and I do too they're my favorite HP stories next to any Marauder or Fred and George stories.

_**msewester :**__pleze continue-_Wasn't planning on stoping :)

_**917brat **__-this sounds intresting are you going to change anything from the books?-_Yes, there will be some changes that will be made, I am sticking with canon pairings and all that, but Albus, James, and Rose will be a big part later also.

_**mimichamp**_-_ooo a pranky harry! Hehe_- Always wanted it, but it never came because he's too busy "Saving the world"

_**Guest **__-continue or i will die!-_Don't die! I'll cry :(

_**The Good Child **_:_awesome story, love how harry and twins are going to team up_- I know I love it too! I got the prank all planed out too so it's going to be awesome! Also thank you.

_**Guest:**_ _continue or die-_ O.o I don't want to die.

_**Guest :**__please continue or i might die-_So many people say they're going to die if I don't continue! So much pressure ;)


	6. The Keeper of the Key's

**An: Ok umm wow guys thank you so much. Funny thing with this story, I litterly only started this story because I was bored and had a writer's block for my other stories, now this story is my main priority and it's all because of you guys! Thank you so much!**

**Dndchk thank you so much for helping me with the story and my crappy proof-reading and punctuation and grammar etc. (By the way, check out her story about the fifth marauder.) (Dndchk here- aww, thanks! And you're welcome!)**

**Disclaimer-*Burst into tears* I don't own anything! (Me neither! Waaaaah!)**

James, Albus, and Rose woke up in the common room with major headaches. The Potters looked at their cousin, confused.

"Are the headaches just side effects?" Albus asked.

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to know? This is my first time time traveling," James groaned. The three wizards sat a moment before noticing they were in the Gryffindor common room.

"Rose, you sure it worked?" James asked.

"One way to find out." Albus grabbed the Marauders' Map and his wand from his back pocket. "I solemly swear that I am up to no good." He tapped the parchment and let the words flow onto the page.

_Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs  
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers  
are proud to present  
THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

"You brought the map?" James asked. He wished he'd thought about that.

"Yeah, thought it might be helpful." Albus opened the map and examined it. "Alright it looks like everyone but Argus Filch is in the Great Hall right now." He closed the map. "Mischief Managed." All the words disappeared. "So what's the plan?" Rose and James looked at each other.

"I guess we just wing it." Albus looked at them in shock. Rose sighed. "Al, since when have any of our plans actually not A: Almost gotten us killed, B: Almost gotten us expelled, or C: Gotten our asses handed over on a silver platter to an ex Death eater who wants our parents' heads on a plate?"(**An/I would be willing to write a story about that if you guys want me to)**

(Ooh, I'd want you to! I suggest Malfoy Sr.)

James pretended to look offended at this. "Rose! That is not because of our terrible plans- it's actually because of the crappy luck we've inherited from our parents." He sighed, then returned to a serious tone. "But she is right. We usually do our best when we wing it." He got up and unfolded the cloak and threw it over the three of them. "Oh, by the way Rose? You sound exactly like Aunt Hermione." Al and James laughed while Rose sent them a death glare.

_Meanwhile in the Great Hall..._

"Who wants to read next?" Dumbledore asked.

"I will," Minerva took the book from Dumbledore's outstretched hand.

"**The Keeper of the Keys."**

"Hagrid?" The Weasleys, Hermione, Neville, Dean, and about a dozen other Gryffindors chorused.

"Yeah didn't I tell you guys? He's the one who picked me up." They shook their heads. "Oh well, I guess now you get to hear the story." He sighed and wished Hagrid was here to relive it.

**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake.**

"**Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

"He's stupider then I thought!" Ginny laughed. Harry, Ron, and the twins smirked.

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

"HE BOUGHT A GUN!" People who knew what a rifle was yelled.

"**Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed!"**

"Like that's going to stop Hagrid," Charlie chuckled.

**There was a pause. Then —**

**SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

**A giant of a man**

"He's half giant Harry," Hermione stated.

"I know that, Hermione."

**Was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

'Filthy half breed,' Umbridge thought.

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

"**Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…"**

"That's Hagrid for you," Bill laughed.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear**

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

"**An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile. **"**Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got…"**

"My mum's eyes," Harry finished for the book, smiling. "That was the first time anyone ever told me that."

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. **"**I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

"**Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant;** **he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

**"Anyway — Harry," said the giant, turning his back on theDursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat feryeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

"No offense to Hagrid, but his cooking isn't the best…"

"This actually wasn't that bad." Harry smiled at the memory of his first true birthday cake. Perhaps he'd gotten a house- elf to help.

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with **_**Happy Birthday Harry **_**written on it in green icing.**

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

"Mind your manners, Potter," surprisingly, it was Draco who sneered this.

**The giant chuckled. **"**True, I haven't introduced Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

Harry, and everyone else that had happened to, winced in response.

"**What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

"Hagrid!" Minerva interrupted herself.

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea.**

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker,**

"One of the few things Hagrid is awesome at cooking." Ron said sheepishly as his stomach grumbled.

**Dudley fidgeted a little.**

**Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

"As if he'd give him anything," Hermione giggled.

**The giant chuckled darkly. **"**Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

"Exactly my point."

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

"I guess that's a little more polite," several people muttered.

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. **"**Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts — yeh'llknow all about Hogwarts, o' course."**

"**Er — no," said Harry.**

"YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT HOGWARTS?" Several people, including some teachers yelled, making Harry jump.

"Nope, but I think I would rather learn about it the way I did instead of the Dursleys telling me," Harry said, smiling cheekily.

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

"**Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

Many people grunted at Harry's apologies.

"That's Harry for you." Remus chuckled, patting him on the shoulder.

"_**Sorry**_**?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know about' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"**

"**All what?" asked Harry**

"**ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. **"**Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

"**Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?"**

Many people looked at Harry as if he should be offended. He ignored it.

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad. **"**I know **_**some**_**things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff."**

"Like that's going to help out much in the wizarding world." A Slytherin chuckled.

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About **_**our**_**world, I mean. **_**Your **_**world. **_**My **_**world. **_**Yer parents' world**_**."**

"**What world?"**

Many people groaned and facepalmed.

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode. **"**DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble."**

"That's not a word." A fourth year Ravenclaw spoke up, but everyone ignored her.

**Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. "But yeh must know aboutyer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're **_**famous**_**. You're **_**famous**_**."**

"Don't remind me." Harry grumbled. No one heard.

**"What? My — my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

"**Yeh don' know… yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

"**Yeh don' know what yeh **_**are**_**?" he said finally.**

"YOU'RE HARRY FREAKING POTTER!" Sang Lee, the twins, Bill, and Charlie. Harry and the rest of the Hall burst out in laughter.

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice. **"**Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

"Like that's ever going to stop Hagrid," Ron snorted.

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage. **"**You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore leftfer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

"**Kept **_**what **_**from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

"**STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

The twin's pretended to faint, making the Hall once again erupt in laughter.

"**Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry —yer a wizard."**

"Shock of my life." Harry smiled at the memory.

_Just Outside the Great Hall..._

"Ok, so what do we do now? I don't think Dad will be too happy to find out that his kids and niece came from the future to change it. Nor do I think he'd believe it," Albus whispered to the other two. They were all silent for a moment, thinking of possibilities on what they could do. Under James's round glasses, his eyes widened.

"I have a plan, but I need you to trust me and to follow my lead." He got out from under the invisibility cloak, followed by Al and Rose. James stuffed it into his backpack he'd wisely brought, and opened the doors to the Great Hall.

_Back in the Great Hall..._

Minerva was about to continue when the doors to the Great Hall opened. Everyone looked over at in surprise, some grabbing for their wands. Two boys with long, wild black hair, one with green eyes the other with hazel, and similar round glasses walked in, followed by a girl with long, curly red hair, brown eyes, and freckles. Everyone, the trio especially, eyed the familiar kids suspiciously.

"Excuse, me but who are you?" Umbridge asked suspiciously. The older looked boy spoke.

"My name is Anthony Ryan, and this is my brother David, and our cousin Kate. We're from Ireland and were requested to come read with you by Professor Dumbledore." He sent a pleading look towards the Headmaster, whose eyes twinkled back.

"Yes, they are family of mine, and huge fans of young Harry Potter here, so I thought it would be nice for them to hear the truth as well."

Fudge sighed, "Very well, take a seat anywhere." The trio nodded and went and sat at the end of the Gryffindor table, where the two younger ones looked angrily at the oldest.

"So what have we missed?" Kate asked.

"Harry just found out he's a wizard." Minerva explained, and then turned back to the book, but not before giving the Headmaster a suspicious look.

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

"**I'm a **_**what**_**?" gasped Harry.**

"Really Harry?" Many people, including his children asked. He just smirked and looked over at Hermione.

"How did you react when the professor told you you were a wizard?"

"I thought her mad until she changed a coffee table into a dog, then I thought _I_ was going mad." Everyone laughed.

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good 'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With amum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? And' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to**

_**Mr H. Potter,**_

_**The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock,**_

_**The Sea.**_

**He pulled out the letter and read:**

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**_

'Not anymore.' Fudge thought, smirking. Harry glared at him, guessing correctly what the smirk was for.

_**Dear Mr Potter,**_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**_

_**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**_

_**Yours sincerely,**_

_**Minerva McGonagall,**_

_**Deputy Headmistress**_

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

"Just what it sounds like, Potter," Pansy sneered.

"**Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl**— **a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

_**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**_

_**Given Harry his letter.**_

_**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**_

_**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**_

_**Hagrid**_

"I could barely make out what the parchment said," Dumbledore chuckled.

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone. Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

"**Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight. **"**He's not going," he said.**

**Hagrid grunted. **"**I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

"**A what?" said Harry, interested.**

"**A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

"**We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

"**You **_**knew**_**?" said Harry. "You **_**knew **_**I'm a — a wizard?"**

"Oh no, Harry's mad," George whispered to Fred.

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "**_**Knew**_**! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that — that **_**school **_— **and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats.** **I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak!**

"She was not a freak!" Remus, Snape, and many other people who knew her yelled.

**"But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

"Who wouldn't?" Seamus asked.

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**"**Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as — as —**_**abnormal **_—

"Well they got one thing right." The twins dodged two blows from Ginny and Hermione.

**and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

"She did not get blown up!" Lavender yelled.

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

'_Oh no'_ was all Minerva thought, but she continued.

"**CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

"Really? I mean he only defeated Voldemort, it's not _that_ big of a deal." James said sarcastically. Everyone flinched and looked stunned that he said Voldy's name. Albus smacked him.

**"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

"**I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh — but someone's gotta — yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**

"That would have been quite funny…" Ron mused.

"Well if I didn't know, you'd be the one who would have to tell the story," Harry shot back. Ron's face instantly went pale.

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys. **"**Well, it's best yehknow as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeheverythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it…"**

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows —"**

"Bet you a sickle Harry can get Hagrid to say You-Know-Who's name," Bill whispered to the twins.

"Sorry Bill, but Hagrid won't say it," George whispered back.

"He would for Harry! So we'll add another galleon into the jackpot?" Fred smiled deviously at the oldest Weasley kid.

"You're on."

"**Who?"**

"**Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

"**Why not?"**

"**Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went… bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…" Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

"**Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

"**Nah — can't spell it. All right —**_**Voldemort**_**. "**

Almost everyone except for Harry, Dumbledore, Rose, Al, and James flinched.

The twins each handed Bill and Charlie a sickle and a galleon.

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, startedlookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who tertrust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him — an' he killed 'em. o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway**

**"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before… probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.**

"**Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' —"**

Harry's gaze dropped to the floor. He hated this story more and more each time.

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

"**Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find — anywa…** "**You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then — an' this is the realmyst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you, too. Wanted termake a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just likedkillin' by then. But he couldn't do it.**

**"Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry.**

**"No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, thePrewetts **— **an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before — and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

Harry shuddered, remembering the laughter. There was a mix of sadness and worry throughout the room.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly. **"**Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot…."**

"**Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

"**Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured **—

The hall went silent in shock. It was at least ten seconds before Mrs. Weasley burst.

"ALBUS DUMBLEDOR HE IS NOT GOING BACK THERE THIS SUMMER! HOW COULD YOU HAVE LET THIS GO ON FOR SO LONG!" Everyone looked, wide-eyed at Molly, whose face was purple.

"Molly, if you would please calm down, I'm sorry to say Harry is going to have to return there for one last time for his own safety." Dumbledore nodded at Harry who nodded back.

"I DON'T BELIEVE-" But Mrs. Weasley was silenced by her husband with a look.

**and as for all this about your parents, well, they wereweirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion **— **asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end."**

"I don't believe this," Hermione hissed.

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat.** **Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley — I'm warning you — one more word…"**

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

"Hagrid is harmless unless you're insulting someone or something he cares about," Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"**That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

"When doesn't he?" Remus chuckled. Harry shrugged, grinning sheepishly.

"**But what happened to Vol-, sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

"Blimey mate, you didn't say his name!" Ron looked pleased.

"Don't get used to it."

"**Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see… he was gettin' more an' more powerful — why'd he go?**

"**Some say he died.**

"Which he did(didn't)," Umbridge and Harry yelled, respectively. They glared at each other.

"Mr. Potter. You are mistaken and brainwashed, He-who-must-not-be-named is _not_ back, because he's _dead_."

"Professor, I saw him, fought him, he killed Cedric Diggory!" Harry tried to get the message through the toad's head. Then to his surprise, Umbridge _and_ Fudge pulled out their wands.

"Sit down Mr. Potter." Harry didn't budge; he instead pulled out his wand also. Dumbledore finally decided to speak up.

"Harry, please sit down, they will find out the truth about that night at the end of the fourth book." Harry hesitated but obliged. Minerva began to read again.

**Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his sidecame back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back. Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — **_**I **_**dunno what it was, no one does **—**but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

"Love," Dumbledore said clearly. He got several odd looks which he ignored.

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake.**

"Harry, you are so stubborn!" many people laughed. Harry's face flushed a bit.

"He gets it from his mum," Remus said. Snape was thinking the same thing.

**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard?**

Everyone became fidgety at the mention of the cupboard. Fred and George broke the tension.

"We think a boa constrictor on Dudders is much more amusing than warty toads."

**If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

"**Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled. **"**Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it… every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry… chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach… dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back… and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

"Yep, you've hit the jackpot." Lee smirked.

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

"**See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**"**Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish — spell books and wands and —"**

"**If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born.**

**"He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled—"**

"**I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"Oh no," Molly muttered.

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER —" he thundered, "— INSULT — ALBUS — DUMBLEDORE — IN — FRONT — OF — ME!" He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley — there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

"HA! SEE? IT DID MAGIC WHEN IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO!" Screamed Umbridge. Everyone, even some Slytherins, glared at Umbridge for calling Hagrid _it_.

"You know professor; it is a clown that lives in the sewers in the states." All the muggle borns and half bloods who understood the reference laughed. Others looked horrified or confused.

"Miss Granger, I do not like being sassed at." She turned back the Minister. "Sir, that half-breed did magic when he was expelled, he must be punished." Fudge was about to say something when Dumbledore once again saved the day.

"Hagrid was on a mission for Hogwarts, I and I only gave him permission to use magic to fetch Harry." Fudge didn't respond.

"Wait did it say curly pig tail?" Ron asked laughing.

"Yep." Harry answered simply. The Hall burst into laughter.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

"**Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

More laughter.

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

"**Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm — er — not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter followyeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff — one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job."**

"**Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

"**Oh, well — I was at Hogwarts meself but I — er — got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

"**Why were you expelled?"**

"Wow, Harry."

"**It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

"**You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' doormice in one o' the pockets."**

"That's the end of the chapter. Who wants to read next?" Albus (Potter) raised his hand. The trio eyed the kids suspiciously.

"Do they look familiar to you?" Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione.

"Sort of... the two boys kind of look like you, minus the eyes, and the girl looks like a Weasley." Harry looked over at Remus.

"Remus, do you recognize those kids?"

"Well the boys are the spitting image of your father- if I didn't know better, I'd say it was him at your age, and a twin." Harry looked back over at the kids. Something was just too familiar about them, and Harry wasn't going to stop until he found out what it was.

**Dun dun dunnnnnn! Does Dumbledore know Al, Rose and James are from the future? (Dndchk here- probably. He knows almost everything.) Will Harry figure out who they are too? (Duh, he's HARRY!) Stay tuned and find out! If you have any character requests either PM me or review and I'll consider adding more characters to this 'Drastic' story already. **

**(OOOH! Do TEDDY! Go Teddy! Go Teddy!)**

**Also whoever caught the AVPM and Steven King reference comment :)**

**Not doing reviews today so until next time!**

**(Hey! That's my line! But yeah, you heard her- until next time! Also, don't forget to review, y'all! Thanks!)**


	7. Diagon Alley

**An: Hey guys! If you have a Pottermore the next four chapter of Chamber of Secrets is up! I haven't typed much the last week because I've been so damn busy! I ended up going to a friend's house (whom I haven't seen since school ended) for three days then have another friend over until today to go to a play (which was amazing) I also won't be able to get another chapter up until next week because I won't be able to look at my computer until Monday due to Softball tournaments (Go Diamond backs!)**

**Also, if we can get to 50 reviews by my next update, there will be a surprise in the next chapter *got any suggestions on surprises? PM me! DO NOT REVIEW THE IDEA!***

**Dndchk, I can't thank you enough xD Also she wrote most of the part with Sirius and the minister (you'll know it when you see it) thank you so much I wanted to put that in this chapter but was actually having trouble with it XD **

**(Dndchk: No problemo! I enjoy proof reading this! Every review you receive is like one given to me- I love them just as much!)**

**Disclaimer-Do I really have to say?**

"**Diagon Alley" **Al read. He and most of the Hall smiled at the thought of the famous alley.

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight. **_**It was a dream, **_**he told himself firmly. **_**I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard.**_

Everyone tensed at the memory of the cupboard.

**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.**

_**And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door**_**, Harry thought, his heart sinking.** **But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.**

"Wasn't a dream," the twins sang.

**Tap. Tap. Tap.**

"**All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."**

**He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak.**

**Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open.**

**The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.**

"**Don't do that." Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.**

"**Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl —"**

"Why are you so shocked?" Malfoy asked.

"Muggles don't use owls for post," Hermione answered politely.

"**Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.**

"**What?"**

"Pay the owl, Potter," Malfoy sneered. The trio glared at the Slytherin. What was up with him? He seemed worse than usual. Was it because his dad was here?

"**He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."**

**Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing **_**but **_**pockets — bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags… finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

"**Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.**

"**Knuts?"**

"**The little bronze ones."**

**Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.**

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched. **"**Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy allyer stuff fer school."**

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

"**Um — Hagrid?"**

"**Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

"**I haven't got any money —**

The people who knew of Harry's wealth snorted.

**and you heard Uncle Vernon last night… he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

"**Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leaveyeh anything?"**

"**But if their house was destroyed —"**

"Why would they keep their money in their house?" James asked, but no one answered.

**They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stopfer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold — an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

Ron and James' stomach rumbled loudly. Everyone who heard laughed.

"**Wizards have **_**banks**_**?"**

"Oh Harry," many peopled groaned, shaking their heads.

"**Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."**

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding. **"_**Goblins**_**?"**

"Why you sound so surprised, Harry?" Bill asked, looking confused.

"Muggle banks are run by muggles," Harry explained.

"**Yeah — so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry.**

Fred, George, and Bill chuckled while Fudge shuttered.

**Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yehwant ter keep safe — 'cept maybe Hogwarts.**

"For most people." Harry rubbed his aching scar. Dumbledore, the Weasleys, Snuffles, Remus, Hermione, Albus, Rose, and James looked at him worriedly.

James glanced at Rose and Al. _When the bloody hell was Teddy and Scorpios coming?_ He wondered.

**As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. FerDumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer ' you — gettin' things from Gringotts — knows he can trust me, see."**

"**Got everythin'? Come on, then." Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

"**How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat.**

"**Flew," said Hagrid.**

Many laughed at the thought of Hagrid on a broom.

"_**Flew**_**?"**

"**Yeah — but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."**

**They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.**

"**Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter — er — speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

"**Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.**

Umbridge huffed.

"**Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

"**Spells — enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons' guardin' the high security vaults.**

Rose, Al and James laughed in remembrance of the older Harry's story of breaking into Gringotts. Lots of people looked confused and/or scooted away from them.

**And then yeh gotta find yer way — Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the 'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."**

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the **_**Daily Prophet**_**. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.**

"**Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual,"**

Umbridge, Percy, and Fudge growled. If looks could kill, the book would be dead.

**Hagrid muttered, turning the page.**

"**There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

"'**Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore ferMinister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

"That's a lie!" Fudge yelled.

"Cornelius, Hagrid may be overreacting a bit, please settle down," Dumbledore stated calmly.

"**But what does a Ministry of Magic **_**do**_**?"**

"**Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles thatthere's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

"**Why?"**

"_**Why? **_**Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."**

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street.**

**Passers-by stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station.** **Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"**

"It is quite fascinating, isn't it?" Mr. Weasley said dreamily.

"**Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are **_**dragons **_**at Gringotts?"**

"Blimey Bill, you never told me that!" Charlie asked excitedly. Bill shrugged.

"**Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."**

The trio looked at Charlie in remembrance in the night.

"How's Norbert doing?" Harry asked. Everyone looked at them incredulously.

"She's good, made friends with another Norwegian Ridgeback." Charlie answered smiling.

"She?" Hermione asked. "How can you tell?"

"The females are more vicious," Charlie said, grinning ruefully.

"**You'd **_**like **_**one?"**

"**Wanted one ever since I was a kid — here we go."**

**They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.**

**People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.**

"Now that I think about it, it may have been a basket liner for Fang," Harry said.

"**Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches.**

**Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.**

"**Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yehneed."**

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:**

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_**UNIFORM**_

_**First-year students will require:**_

_**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)**_

_**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**_

_**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**_

_**4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)**_

_**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**_

_**COURSE BOOKS**_

_**All students should have a copy of each of the following:**_

_**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk**_

_**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**_

_**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**_

_**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch**_

_**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**_

_**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**_

_**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander**_

_**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**_

_**OTHER EQUIPMENT**_

_**1 wand**_

_**1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)**_

_**1 set of glass or crystal phials**_

_**1 telescope set**_

_**1 brass scales**_

_**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**_

_**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**_

"Our least favorite rule," Many Quidditch freaks sighed.

"Potter got away with it." Draco glared at the smirked.

"All because of you Malfoy." People looked confused. "You'll find out later," he promised.

"**Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.**

"**If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.**

**Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.**

"**I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said** **as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.**

**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up?**

"They wouldn't they don't approve of imagination," Neville said dryly.

**If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense ofhumour, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.**

"**This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."**

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it.**

**Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside. For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"**

**Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.**

**Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this — can this be —?"**

The twins stood up and cleared their throat. "He's Harry Freaking-"

"Don't you dare guys, or I'll hex you into next Tuesday." Ginny warned. The twins immediately sat down.

**The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.**

"**Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter… what an honour."**

**He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.**

"**Welcome back, Mr Potter, welcome back."**

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming.**

**Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

"**Doris Crockford, Mr Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."**

"**So proud, Mr Potter, I'm just so proud."**

"**Always wanted to shake your hand — I'm all of a flutter."**

"**Delighted, Mr Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

"**I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."**

"Why say anything?" some of the adults who knew Harry asked. He shrugged.

"**He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!"**

**Harry shook hands again and again — Doris Crockford kept coming back for more**

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.**

"**Professor Quirrell!"**

The trio growled and the normal twinkle in Dumbledore eyes disappeared.

**said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."**

"**P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you."**

**What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"**

"**D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered ProfessorQuirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it.**

"**N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously.**

"That stutter was really annoying," Dean said, rolling his eyes.

**"You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.**

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble. **"**Must get on — lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."**

**Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.**

**Hagrid grinned at Harry. **"**Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh youwas famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meetyeh — mind you, he's usually tremblin'."**

"**Is he always that nervous?"**

"**Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind.**

"Sadly it was shared by Voldemort." People flinched at his name, while others looked confused. Wasn't that just a rumor?

**He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience… They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag — never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject — now, where's me umbrella?"**

**Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.**

"**Three up… two across…" he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry."**

**He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.**

**The brick he had touched quivered — it wriggled — in the middle, a small hole appeared — it grew wider and wider — a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.**

"**Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."**

Many smiled and some even cheered at the beloved shopping alley.

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall.**

**The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons — All Sizes — Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver — Self-Stirring — Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.**

"**Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta getyer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad…"**

Molly blushed. Everyone laughed.

**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign sayingEeylops Owl Emporium — Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy.**

**Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand — fastest ever —"**

Harry's eyes saddened at the thought of his first broom.

**There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon…**

"**Gringotts," said Hagrid.**

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was —**

"**Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:**

_**Enter, stranger, but take heed**_

_**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**_

_**For those who take, but do not earn,**_

_**Must pay most dearly in their turn.**_

_**So if you seek beneath our floors**_

_**A treasure that was never yours,**_

_**Thief, you have been warned, beware**_

_**Of finding more than treasure there.**_

"I've always loved that poem." Luna smiled.

"**Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.**

**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.**

"**Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr Harry Potter's safe."**

"**You have his key, sir?"**

"**Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of mouldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers.**

"Lovely," Hermione said.

**The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.**

"**Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.**

**The goblin looked at it closely. **"**That seems to be in order."**

"**An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**

"HAGRID!" shouted a majority of the hall.

**The goblin read the letter carefully. **"**Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"**

**Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.**

"**What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.**

Mrs. Weasley huffed.

"**Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business.**

"That's why we had find out," The trio smirked.

**Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yehthat."**

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in — Hagrid with some difficulty — and were off.**

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember,** **left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible.**

"Impressive, I didn't even get that far." Dumbledore smiled.

"I got farther, two more left turns and a right turn." Rose stated. Everyone looked at her incredulously.

**The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, becauseGriphook wasn't steering. Harry's** **eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late**

— **they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.**

"**I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"**

**Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it,"**

"Very good Hagrid!" some Gryffindor's cheered.

**said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick." He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.**

**Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.**

Harry looked guiltily at the floor. He didn't like talking about money in front of the Weasleys.

"**All yours," smiled Hagrid.**

**All Harry's — it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking.**

**How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London. Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.**

"**The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle,it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned toGriphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

"**One speed only," said Griphook.**

"Does it have to be so fast though?" Ron looked green.

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.**

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.**

"A high security vault." Lucius muttered, making the Hall jump. Most people forgot he was here.

"**Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.**

"**If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," saidGriphook.**

"**How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.**

"**About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.**

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least **—**but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor.**

"What's that?" A first year Gryffindor asked.

"You'll find out soon enough," Ron responded.

**Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat.**

**Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask.**

"**Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.**

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life — more money than even Dudley had ever had.**

"**Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

Malfoy and Harry growled, glaring at each other.

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve. **"**Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here — another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face**

Malfoy decided his description wasn't so bad.

**was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.**

"**Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"**

"**Yes," said Harry.**

"**My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy.**

"The wand chooses the wizard, Malfoy." Hermione said coolly.

"I know that, Granger!" Malfoy snapped.

**He had a bored, drawling voice.**

**"Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own."**

"So stuttering professors with Voldemort stuck to the back of his head won't try to kill you by knocking you off your broom." Harry mumbled. Ron snorted.

**I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."**

Lucius glared at his son.

"You're lucky I bought those brooms for you in second year," he said coldly.

**Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

Both Malfoys glared at Harry, who shrugged.

"**Have **_**you **_**got your own broom?" the boy went on.**

"**No," said Harry.**

"**Play Quidditch at all?"**

"**No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

"_**I **_**do — Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

"**No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

"**Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been — imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"**

The Hufflepuffs glared daggers at the younger Malfoy.

"Cedric was a Hufflepuff and one of the greatest wizards I've ever known." Cho finally spoke up, her voice deadly quiet. Everyone (minus a certain house) bowed their heads in remembrance. Harry clenched his fists. Voldemort was going to pay.

**Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

"**I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.**

"**That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

"**Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

"**He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second.**

"Right back at ya, Potter."

"**Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of **_**savage **_— **lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

"**I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

"_**Do **_**you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

"**They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

"**Oh, sorry,"**

"Did he just apologize?" many people asked.

**said the other, not sounding sorry at all.**

"I.. I am sorry about...about your parents, Potter." Malfoy said quietly. Harry and the rest of the hall looked surprised.

"Uh thanks...?" Harry replied, not sure of what to do or say. Malfoy shut his mouth firmly and stared at the table.

"**But they were **_**our **_**kind, weren't they?"**

**They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

"**I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you?**

Three fourths of the hall growled.

**They're just not the same; they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"**

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry** **not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

"**Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts).**

"**What's up?" said Hagrid.**

"**Nothing," Harry lied.**

**They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed colour as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

"**Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know — notknowin' about Quidditch!"**

"**Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's. **"— **and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in —"**

"**Yer not **_**from **_**a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh **_**were**_— **he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents arewizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles — look atyer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"**

"**So what **_**is **_**Quidditch?"**

"**It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like — like soccer in the Muggle world **— **everyone follows Quidditch — played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls — sorta hard ter explain the rules."**

"**And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

"**School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but —"**

The Hufflepuffs looked offended.

"**I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," said Harry gloomily.**

"I'm sorry- I didn't know what any of this meant then!" Harry blurted when the Hufflepuffs glared at him.

"**Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin.**

"What about Peter Pettigrew?" Harry said loudly. Remus glanced over at him at the mention of the ex-marauder.

"Pettigrew is dead, Sirius Black killed him!" Fudge's face turned fire engine red.

"Well remember what we told you about my rat, Scabbers? He was missing a toe, the same one Pettigrew was missing, and he's an illegal Animagus," Ron said. Percy looked thoughtful.

"Well, that would explain how he lived so long, and he did come into the family around the time Pettigrew supposedly died." The Weasleys looked up at Percy in shock. Was he really speaking against the minister? Fudge thought the same thing.

"Mr. Weasley, do you actually believe the story they're throwing out?"

"Cornelius, if you would like, I think we have some Veritaserum. We could give Harry or even Sirius to see who is telling the truth," Dumbledore suggested mildly. Fudge nodded, albeit very reluctantly. Snape took a bottle from his cape and Harry stood up. He was ready for the truth to come out. He grabbed the bottle and drank it.

"Harry, did Sirius Black betray your parents?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, Peter Pettigrew framed him." Fudge looked at him, shocked.

"Is You-Know-Who really back?" the Minister demanded.

"Yes." Harry said bluntly. The Hall went silent in shock. Could it really be true? Dumbledore broke the silence.

"Sirius? I believe it's safe for you to come out now." With that Snuffles turned into Sirius.

More shocked expressions.

"Sirius Black!" Fudge yelled. "He- How-?"

"Somebody seize him!" Umbridge demanded, drawing her wand.

"You will do no such thing, Dolores," Professor Dumbledore said. "Harry has just proven that Sirius is innocent, and I expect that he will be given a proper trial in due course."

The Minister's face purpled. "Very- Very well," he spat. "But I want him to have a guard set on him-"

"I don't believe that will be necessary," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "Seeing as how he is, after all, innocent." After a brief pause, the Minister nodded stiffly.

Mutterings and whispers erupted around the Hall, many students craning their necks to get a good look at the infamous 'mass murderer'. Remus grinned at Sirius.

"It's good to have you back," he said.

"Like you can't even imagine," Sirius said, clapping his old friend on the back, then leaning over and giving Harry a hug, which was eagerly returned.

Al decided to continue.

**You-Know-Who was one."**

"**Vol-, sorry —You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

"**Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.**

**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from **_**Curses and Counter curses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More)**_**by Professor Vindictus Viridian.**

"**I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."**

"Doesn't work like that Harry," Sirius said, patting his godson's shoulder. Harry just grinned.

"**I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."**

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"),** **but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop).**

"You're really observant," James said admiringly, finally seeing where Albus got it from.

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.**"**Just yer wand left — Oh yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."**

**Harry felt himself go red. You don't have to —"**

"**I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at** — **an' I don' like cats,** **they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls; they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."**

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing.**

"You have such a beautiful owl," Many girls cooed.

"I know."

Harry's children looked at one another. Poor Hedwig. Harry would be devastated when he found out...well, everything.

**He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.**

"**Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivandersleft now — only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gottahave the best wand."**

**A magic wand… this was what Harry had been really looking forward to.**

**The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.** **A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.**

**A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled.** **The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

"That was an amazing feeling," Luna said.

"**Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.**

**An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.**

**Hello," said Harry awkwardly.**

"**Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in hereherself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."**

**Mr Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.**

"He's just creepy altogether," Anthony said.

"**Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it — it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."**

**Mr Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.**

"**And that's where…" Mr Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.**

"**I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly."Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands… well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…"**

**He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid.**

"**Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again… Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"**

"**It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

"**Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

"**Er — yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

"**But you don't **_**use **_**them?" said Mr Ollivander sharply.**

**Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

"Hagrid?"

"Never!" The twins said in a sarcastic tone.

"**Hmmm," said Mr Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now — Mr Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

"**Er — well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

"**Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head.**

**As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."**

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils,**

"Why does he do that?"A third year Slytherin asked. No one bothered to answer.

**was doing this on its own. Mr Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes. **

"**That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr Potter. Try this and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave."**

**Harry took the wand and, feeling foolish, waved it around a bit, but Mr Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.**

"**Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite —"**

**Harry tried — but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr Ollivander.**

"**No, no — here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

**Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr Ollivanderwas waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wandsMr Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.**

"**Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere — I wonder, now — yes, why not — unusual combination — holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."**

Harry paled; everyone was going to find out the truth about his and Voldemort's wands.

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. **

**He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls.**

**Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious…"**

**He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious… curious…"**

"**Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"**

**Mr Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.**

"**I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother — why, its brother gave you that scar."**

The whole hall minus Harry, Sirius, Rose, Al, James, and Dumbledore gasped.

"WHAT?"

"Everyone calm down, Harry does in fact share the same core as Voldemort, but that does not change the person Harry is," Dumbledore said. They all went silent, but Harry could feel almost a hundred pairs of eyes trained on him.

**Harry swallowed.**

"**Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember… I think we must expect great things from you,Mr Potter… After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things — terrible, yes, but great."**

"_Great!"_ People yelled.

"He means the complexity of the magic, I think," Hermione said. Al ignored them and kept reading.

**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and MrOllivander bowed them from his shop.**

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder.**

"**Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.**

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.**

"**You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life — and yet — he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

"**Everyone thinks I'm special," He said at last. **"**All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, MrOllivander… but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry — I mean, the night my parents died."**

"You remember something don't you? The killing curse, his laugh." Hermione said quietly.

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile. **"**Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts — I did — still do, 'smatter of fact."**

**Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope. **"**Yerticket fer Hogwarts," he said. "First o' September — King's Cross — it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with theDursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me…. See yeh soon, Harry."**

"He forgot to tell you how to get onto the platform?" Minerva asked shocked.

"It was nothing." Harry smiled toward the Weasleys. Ron grinned back at him.

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

"That's it." Albus announced. "Anyone wanna read?" The hall went silent. Suddenly the great hall doors flew open.

**Dun dun dunnn! Cliffhanger! So Sirius is freeish, ya I couldn't resist to get that out of the open. OH! Did you guys hear that Starkid announced A Very Potter Senior Year? (Dndchk: They did? Freaking AWESOME! Let's go to Pigfarts!) I can't wait! (ME NEITHER!) Well until next time. Bye!**

**(BYE! Whoot, I've been waiting for that forever! Ah, better go now, don't want to intrude in a story that's not mine.)**


	8. Journey to Plaform 9 and three quarters

**An: Ok I couldn't help it, right after I posted the last chapter, I started typing this one. xD So enjoy.**

**Also, sorry if you're not a Rose/Scorpius fan, they're the only pairing I like for next generation but only if Rose is Gryffindor and Scorpius is Slytherin. **

**Also I'm putting in a side you don't see much of Remus, his Marauder side! It was quite fun to write, because you never see him like that in the books/movies because he's always so Sirius lol jk :p**

**Dndchk, I say this in every chapter because you're awesome! Thank you *virtual hug***

**(Hugs back! I loved the part where Remus- well, I won't spoil it for you readers, but it's pretty awesome! Broke my heart, too, come to think of it. *crys*)**

**Disclaimer-Don't own any of the content, characters, or Wizarding worlds you read in the story (there's only one world but you get what I mean :) )**

**By the way since I updated so quickly you will get one more chapter to get to fifty reviews :)**

"_That's it." Albus announced. "Anyone wanna read?" The hall went silent. Suddenly the great hall doors flew open._

A scrawny boy looking exactly like Draco Malfoy walked into the hall next a boy who looked like Remus but much older (early to mid twenties.) James stood up.

"Ahh, Ryan, Tyler you made it! Why don't you come sit next to Kate, David, and I?" Teddy and Scorpius looked confusedly at James, but caught on after a second.

"Dumbledore, I presume you remember our friends?" Rose, aka Kate, asked.

"Yes, I do remembering you mentioning them in a couple of your letters." The group looked relieved once again. Teddy's eyes scanned the hall, widening at the sight of his father. Scorpius did the same, but instead glared daggers in the Malfoys' direction. Harry turned to Remus.

"If I didn't know better…"

"That's a younger version of me and a twin of Draco's." Remus finished.

"Do you think they really are who they say they are?" Hermione chipped in. Both Harry and Remus shook their heads. Ron perked up.

"Harry, the map!" he whispered excitedly.

"So who wants to-" Dumbledore was interrupted by Harry's hand shooting in the air. "Yes Harry?"

"Sir, do you mind if we take a quick five minute break?" Dumbledore looked at his pocketwatch.

"I don't think it would hurt, but this is the last one until we finish the book. We will eat while reading the next chapter." The hall looked relieved at the thought at lunch. The trio got up, as did the time travelers. Sirius took Harry's arm before he ran off.

"Harry, both Remus and I would like a word with you when you get back." Harry simply nodded ran off.

"Tempus Stamine," (A/N it means time warp, thought it was appropriate xD) Hermione said quickly when they made it to the Fat Lady's portrait. They climbed through the portrait hole, not knowing their children, godchildren, and children's friends snuck in after them. The trio headed up to the fifth year boys' dorm while Al, James, Teddy, Scorpius, and Rose sat around the fireplace silently.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Harry tapped the old parchment with his wand. When the words popped up he opened it. He, Ron, and Hermione scanned the parchment. The three of them paled when five names showed in the Gryffindor common room. Albus S. Potter, James S. Potter, Teddy R. Lupin, Scorpius H. Malfoy, and Rose J. Weasley. Harry dropped the parchment.

"C-Could it be wrong?" Hermione stuttered sounding much like Quirrel. Harry shook his head. "Do you think they're time travelers from the past?" Harry once again shook his head.

"From what I know, there wasn't an Albus in my family... Was there a Rose in yours?" Ron shook his head.

"Maybe they're the ones that sent the books? Maybe they're from the future?" Hermione suggested.

"That would make sense." Harry tapped his wand against the parchment once again, saying, "Mischief managed." He folded it and carefully put it in his trunk.

_Gryffindor common room..._

"I _told_ you we should have used Polyjuice Potion! They've already figured out who we are and we're not even through half of dad's first year yet!" James whispered furiously.

"Who knows what would have happened if we drank both the time travel and Polyjuice potions together! Besides, it might be better if they knew who we really are; I mean, our parents and such." Rose said.

"Yeah, what do you think would happen if I told dad and Grandpa that I'm dad's son?" Scorpius asked, "If they found out, they'd use you guys against Harry!" The four friends looked at Teddy for help.

"Hey don't look at me, the only reason I agreed to this is to see my dad, and to save him." The four students knew that was only the partial truth. "Besides, Scorp, Harry wouldn't let anything happen, you know that."

"Ted, he's the same year as us! He doesn't know us, we're from the future! Think of what that could do to a teenager already as messed up as he is!" The other five chuckled, but went silent instantly when the younger versions of their parents came downstairs. Teddy started to stand up.

"Stay seated." Harry ordered. Teddy hesitated, then lowered himself into his seat.

"Look, we know who you are," Hermione started. Rose looked nervously at her teenaged mother. "You two," she pointed at James and Al, "are Harry's sons, and you," she pointed at Rose, "is Ron's daughter, and you two," she looked over at Scorpius and Ted, "are Remus Lupin and Draco Malfoy's sons." They all nodded.

"Who're your mums?" Ron asked. Ted, being the oldest, spoke up.

"My mother was Nymphadora Tonks, Al and James' mother is Ginny Potter, Rose's mother is you, Hermione," both Ron and Hermione looked at if they were going to faint. Harry smirked, then remembered who Al and James' mother was.

"Wait, in the future I'm married to Ginny? As in, Ron's sister?" he asked, shocked. Ted nodded.

"And Scorp's mum is Astoria Malfoy nee Greengrass." The common room went silent for a moment. Ron once again spoke.

"Exactly why is a Malfoy hanging out with Weasleys and Potters?"

"Well, I'm nothing like my father or grandparents were, though I am still a Slytherin." The trio was shocked that Scorpius actually looked disgusted by the thought. "Also, I'm, ummm, dating Rose…" Ron paled while his ears turned red. Hermione examined the couple.

"I think they're cute, you have your mother's approval." Hermione paused a moment, "I'm going to have to get used to saying I'm a mum. This is so weird..."

"So do we have any other kids except for you guys?" Harry asked. James nodded.

"We have a sister named Lily Luna Potter, she's in her third year, and Rose has a brother named Hugo Arthur Weasley." The trio nodded.

"What about cousins, nieces, and nephews?" Hermione asked. Al answered quickly.

"Victorie, Dominique, Louis, Lucy, Molly, Roxanne, and Fred."

"Bloody hell!" the trio yelled.

"Wait, you said earlier that Tonks and Remus were your parents... What happened to them?" Ted's eyes saddened.

"They died in the Battle of Hogwarts. I grew up with you and my grandmother." They all went silent; Harry and Ron sniffled; tears started pouring down Hermione's cheeks.

"Who else dies?" she asked quietly.

"Fred," Ron paled. "Sirius," Harry looked like he'd been hit with a sledgehammer. "Dobby, Colin, Dumbledore, Harry you die but come back to life, and Snape died too, saving your life, Harry." The three looked shocked and hurt at Scorpius' words.

Al looked at his devastated father. "Should we call you dad or Harry?" That caught Harry off guard.

"Er, I guess you can call me dad, or whatever you're most comfortable with." They nodded. James went back to the subject at hand.

"That's why we sent the books to the toad, to have you change the future. _She_ thinks it's to prove that you're a filthy liar, but we lied about that." Everyone laughed at James.

"Um, do I ever stop Voldemort?" Only Ron and Hermione flinched at the name.

"Yep, and you become one of the most famous wizards of all time." The portrait hole then opened, Sirius and Remus walked in.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, everyone's waiting for your return." Remus said, looking curiously at the travelers.

"Alright. Hey, Remus? I would like to introduce you... to your son."

"Harry, what are you talking about? I don't have a son."

"In the future you do." Remus' eyes widened to the size of galleons at that. "Remus, this is your son and my godson Teddy Remus Lupin, Teddy, this is your father." Both Teddy and Remus didn't take their eyes off each other. They shook hands awkwardly. A moment after that Teddy hugged aught his father up in a bone-crushing hug. Remus hugged him back, smiling.

"So who's the lucky lady?" Sirius asked seriously (An/ just had to put that in!)

"Tonks." Harry said bluntly.

"M-my cousin Tonks?" Sirius looked as if he was going to faint. Harry nodded.

"Also I would like to introduce you to my children, Albus and James, and Ron and Hermione's daughter Rose, and the blonde is Scorpius, Malfoy's kid."

"Well it's nice to meet you all." Remus said politely, still looking overwhelmed. "Now could you all please head back to the Great Hall for the next chapter?" Everyone nodded and headed out the portrait hole, but Remus stopped Harry. "We'd like you to walk with us, we need to talk." Harry sighed and nodded. He walked quietly in between the two Marauders. After a minute Sirius spoke up.

"Harry why didn't you tell us how those Dursleys treated you?" Harry shrugged.

"I guess I didn't want you guys to worry when I'm fine, I've lived with it for twelve years before I met you, and at the time, Sirius, you were on the run, and Remus, you were either dealing with Snape, or busy helping Dumbledore, and with all this stuff going on, it just didn't seem like a big deal."

"If your father was here he would have our asses." Remus grumbled.

"Yeah, well, dad's dead, and if you didn't change the secret keeper, both mum and dad would be alive." Harry snapped more towards Sirius then Remus, and immediately regretting it, said, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Harry, we just worry about you-"

"We feel if we don't take care of you, no one will."

"We're the closest thing to family you have, the only thing separating us is blood." Moony and Padfoot sounded much like the twins. Harry smiled.

"All right, I'll let you know if it happens again this summer."

"That's all we were asking for, but Harry," Sirius paused. "Now that my name's been cleared for good, you might not have to worry about the Dursleys anymore."

Harry's heart swelled. "That would be brilliant," he said, grinning hugely. They entered the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"So," Dumbledore started, "Let's eat!" Food appeared at each table. "Also, who wants to read?"

"I do!" Scorpius smiled. The book floated towards him. After swallowing a piece of his sandwich he read.

"**The Journey From Platform Nine And Three Quarters."**

**Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun.**

"When is it ever fun?" Ron asked with a mouthful of food.

"When Fred and George feeds Big D Ton-Tongue Toffee." Harry smirked at the twins, who whistled innocently.

**True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room,**

Ron, Fred, George, and Harry snickered, remembering the cowardly Dudders.

**while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him — in fact, they didn't speak to him at all.**

"Quite relaxing not hearing all their shrieking voices," Harry muttered.

**Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.**

"Believe me, it sucks being shunned." Albus muttered. His father looked at him confusedly. "I'll explain later." Harry nodded, but was still insanely curious.

**Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in **_**A History of Magic**_**.**

"That's how you named her!" Lavender smiled.

"You've read it?" Sirius, Ron, and the twins yelled while Hermione whooped. They got many odd looks.

**His school books were very interesting. He lay on his bed reading late into the night,**

**Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice.**

"What's a vacuum?" asked a second year Slytherin.

"A devise muggles use to clean their floors," A muggle born Ravenclaw answered. The Slytherin looked interested.

**Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.**

"Don't know who doesn't do that," Remus chuckled.

**On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.**

The hall laughed.

"**Er — Uncle Vernon?"**

**Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.**

"**Er — I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to — to go to Hogwarts."**

**Uncle Vernon grunted again.**

"**Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?"**

**Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes.**

"So you speak three different languages- English, Parseltongue, and troll-which do you prefer?" George asked.

"Troll, it's so easy to understand," Harry said sarcasticly, making the hall laugh once again.

"You've got your father's sense of humor," Sirius chuckled.

"It's a change from being so serious all the time."

"Wait, I'm Sirius!" The hall laughed at the corny joke.

"Padfoot that's so first year, I'm ashamed." Sirius looked mock offended.

"It's not like you could do any better Moony," Sirius spat.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Want to bet?" Fred, George, and Lee looked in awe at the two remaining non evil Marauders.

"**Thank you."**

"Damn Harry, you're too polite." Teddy laughed. Harry looked at his future godson.

"It gets you far in life."

**He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke.**

"**Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"**

"Sorry buddy, they're illegal," Sirius sighed; He remembered how much he, Remus, James, and the rat had on James' flying carpet.

**Harry didn't say anything.**

"**Where is this school, anyway?"**

"**I don't know,"**

"Scotland," Charlie answered.

**Said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.**

"**I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read.**

**His aunt and uncle stared.**

"Petunia should know where it is," Sirius and Snape chorused, then glared at each other.

"**Platform what?"**

"**Nine and three-quarters."**

"**Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."**

"Yes there is!" half the hall yelled.

"**It's on my ticket."**

"**Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them.**

Fred, George, and Lee got up and fixed their ties.

"Why thank you, we try our best." The hall laughed at the trio's shenanigans.

**You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."**

"**Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.**

"Why?" Dennis asked.

"Don't want them to change their minds on taking me to Kings Cross."

"**Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon."Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."**

"I think everyone at the school would have thought he was amazing with the tail," Ron smirked.

**Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep.**

"Wow, it was three a.m. for me," said Hermione.

"Two," the twins said.

"I didn't sleep." Neville laughed.

**He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes — he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for theDursleys to get up. Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off.**

"Talking as in bribing with super sized double chocolate shakes." Harry said dryly, taking a bite of his sandwich, which he had temporarily forgotten.

**They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him. Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.**

"**Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine — platform platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"**

**He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.**

"**Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing.**

"Those-" Ron elbowed his sister before she cursed. In return she stomped on his foot.

**Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone.**

**He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters. The guard had never heard of Hogwarts**

"We really should have a wizard guard posted there to direct people," Minerva said directly at the Minister.

"I'll see what I can do," he agreed.

**And when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose. Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but the guard said there wasn't one. In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl.**

Some of the Ravenclaws looked as if they were thinking of a solution.

**Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into DiagonAlley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten.**

"They'll think you're mad!" Lucius sneered. Scorpius took his eyes off the book momentarily to glare at his grandfather, who had tried to kill Al, James, and Rose dozens of times. Despite the fact that those events had yet to pass, he still hated the man.

**At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"— **packed with Muggles, of course —"**

"Mum!" sang the Weasley kids. Remus, Sirius, Harry, and Hermione looked fondly at Molly, who was blushing.

**Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair.**

"Oh, and don't forget about Ginny." Ginny said, acting offended.

**Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him — and they had an **_**owl**_**.**

**Heart hammering, Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying.**

"**Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.**

"**Nine and three-quarters!"**

Ginny blushed in remembrance of that year.

**piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mum, can't I go…"**

"**You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."**

"That was how dad and mum met?" Albus whispered to James. They snickered.

**What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it — but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.**

The twins, Sirius, and surprisingly even Remus fake gasped.

"It's like-" Fred started.

"Magic!" the other four finished.

"**Fred, you next," the plump woman said.**

"**I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you **_**tell **_**I'm George?"**

"**Sorry, George, dear."**

"**Only joking, I am Fred,"**

"Still our favorite joke."

"I don't see why people can't see you apart, it's quite simple, you're Fred and you're George." Ginny pointed at each twin separately. They were too shocked to reply.

**Said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone — but how had he done it?**

**Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there — and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere.**

**There was nothing else for it.**

"**Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman.**

"**Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."**

**She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.**

"Love the description," Malfoy laughed.

"Shut it, you git!" his son yelled. Draco stood up.

"Just who do you think you are?" he asked coldly.

"I'm your-" Al clapped his hand over Scorp's mouth while Rose kicked him under the table.

"You're my what?" Draco asked snidely. Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Malfoy rolled his eyes and went back to his food. Al slowly removed his hand from Scorpius' mouth and glared a warning at him.

"**Yes," said Harry. "The thing is — the thing is, I don't know how to —"**

"**How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded.**

"**Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."**

"**Er — okay," said Harry.**

**He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid.**

**He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble — leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run — the barrier was coming nearer and nearer — he wouldn't be able to stop — the cart was out of control — he was a foot away — he closed his eyes ready for the crash —**

**It didn't come…**

"Ah mate that's not until second year!" Ron laughed darkly. Remus and Sirius looked confused. The Weasleys (minus the twins and Ginny) glared at Ron and Harry, along with most of the teachers.

**He kept on running… he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said **_**Hogwarts' Express, eleven o'clock**_**. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words **_**Platform Nine and Three-Quarters **_**on it, He had done it.**

**Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.**

**The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."**

"**Oh, **_**Neville**_**," he heard the old woman sigh.**

Neville blushed at the mention of him.

**A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd.**

"Lee!" the twins yelled, Lee cheered, looking like a complete idiot.

"**Give us a look, Lee, go on."**

**The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.**

"So that's where that spider came from!" Ron yelled at the memory of the prank the twins played on him the summer before that.

**Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot.**

"Bloody hell mate, I feel bad for you."

"**Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier.**

"**Yes, please," Harry panted.**

"**Oi, Fred! C'mere and help!"**

**With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.**

"**Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.**

"**What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.**

"It's a unicorn that shoots rainbows out of its butt!" Harry laughed. Everyone gave him odd looks. He just grinned.

"**Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you —?"**

"Tom Hanks? Why, yes, yes I am." The muggle borns and some half bloods laughed.

"**He is,"**

Everyone laughed harder.

**said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.**

"**What?" said Harry.**

"_**Harry Potter**_**." chorused the twins.**

"**Oh, him,"**

"Yes him who else?"

"We were expecting Harry _Freaking_ Potter," George laughed.

**Said Harry. "I mean, yes, I am."**

**The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door.**

"**Fred? George? Are you there?"**

"**Coming, Mum."**

**With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train.**

**Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying.**

**Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.**

"**Ron, you've got something on your nose."**

**The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.**

Ron blushed.

"I'm sorry dear; I was just as nervous as you." Molly apologized.

"_**Mum**_**— geroff" He wriggled free.**

"**Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins.**

"**Shut up," said Ron.**

"**Where's Percy?" said their mother.**

"**He's coming now."**

**The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes,**

"Suck-up," several people muttered. Percy's ears reddened with embarrassment.

**and Harry noticed a red and gold badge on his chest with the letter **_**P **_**on it.**

"**Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front; the prefects have got two compartments to themselves —"**

"**Oh, are you a **_**prefect**_**, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."**

"**Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once —"**

"**Or twice —"**

"**A minute —"**

"**All summer —"**

"It was worse when he became head boy," Ginny grumbled. The Weasleys who heard laughed.

"**Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.**

"**How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.**

"**Because he's a **_**prefect**_**," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there."**

**She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left.**

**Then she turned to the twins.**

"**Now, you two — this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've — you've blown up a toilet or —"**

The twins and Harry grinned at each other...

"**Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."**

"**Great idea though, thanks, Mom."**

"**It's **_**not funny**_**. And look after Ron."**

"**Don't worry; ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."**

"**Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.**

"**Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"**

"Tom Hanks?" asked a muggle born Hufflepuff. Once again, the muggle borns and several half bloods laughed.

**Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking. This turned out to be a very painful mistake.**

**This was because of the lengthy **_**conversation**_** he had had with his uncle the night before.**

"**You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"**

"**Who?"**

"_**Harry Potter**_**!"**

**Harry heard the little girl's voice.**

Ginny blushed so badly she looked sunburned. Harry got up and moved over to her, putting an arm around her.

"S'alright Gin, it's not like half the Hall didn't do the same thing." Harry glared at everyone who was watching. Michael Corner (Ginny's current boyfriend) glared daggers at Harry.

"**Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mum, oh please…"**

"**You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"**

"**Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there — like lightning."**

"**Poor **_**dear **_**— no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform."**

"**Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"**

"I'd rather not give a description," Harry shuddered.

**Their mother suddenly became very stern.**

"**I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."**

"**All right, keep your hair on."**

**A whistle sounded.**

"**Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.**

"**Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."**

"**We'll send you a Hogwarts' toilet seat."**

"I got it instead!" Harry cheered, unfolding his arm from around Ginny to pump it in the air.

"_**George!**_**"**

"**Only joking, Mum."**

"Ha ha, very funny," Ron chuckled.

**The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.**

**Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to — but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.**

**The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in.**

"**Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."**

**Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose.**

"**Hey, Ron."**

**The twins were back.**

"Don't lie-"

"-You love us!" Fred and George smiled in Harry's direction. He smiled back.

"**Listen, we're going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."**

"**Right," mumbled Ron.**

"**Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves?Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."**

"**Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.**

"**Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.**

"Sorry." Ron said sheepishly.

**Harry nodded.**

"**Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got — you know…"**

**He pointed at Harry's forehead.**

**Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared.**

"**So that's where You-Know-Who —?"**

"**Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."**

"**Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.**

"Liar," muttered Umbridge.

"**Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."**

"**Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.**

"**Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.**

"**Er — Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."**

"**So you must know loads of magic already."**

"Nope, that's Hermione you're thinking of," Ron smirked. Hermione blushed and swatted him.

**The Weasley's were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.**

"**I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"**

"**Horrible — well, not all of them.**

**My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."**

"**Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy.**

"**I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first.**

The Weasleys looked sadly at Ron.

"Do you really feel that way Ron?" Charlie asked.

"Well not anymore, because I've got something you'll never have- the title of being Harry Potter's best friend." Ron and Harry smiled at each other and bumped fists.

**You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."**

**Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat grey rat, which was asleep.**

"**His name's Scabbers and he's useless,**

Everyone growled and glared at the poor old book in Scorpius' hand.

**He hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff — I mean, I gotScabbers instead."**

**Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.**

**Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.**

"… **and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort —"**

Almost everyone flinched.

**Ron gasped.**

"**What?" said Harry.**

"_**You said You-Know-Who's name!**_**"**

"Fear of a name increases the fear of the thing itself," Dumbledore said wisely.

**Said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people —"**

"**I'm not trying to be **_**brave **_**or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn… I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."**

"**You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."**

"Hermione!" Cheered the Gryffindors. Hermione blushed.

**While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.**

**Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"**

**Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast,**

"Got a little too excited." Harry laughed. He pointedly took a bite of his sandwich when Pomfrey looked worriedly at him.

**Leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor.**

**He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys,**

**And now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry — but the woman didn't have Mars Bars.**

"Those are gross," Dean said with a disgusted face.

"Never had them so I wouldn't know." Ron laughed.

**What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavour Beans,Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Liquorice Wands, and a number ofother strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.**

**Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.**

"**Hungry, are you?"**

"**Starving,"**

"Boys are always starving," said several girls.

**Said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.**

**Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef..."**

"**Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on —"**

"**You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."**

"**Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with.**

**It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron; eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten).**

"Usually are," The twins, Ginny, and Ron said quietly. Molly looked at the table sadly.

"**What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not **_**really **_**frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.**

"**No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."**

"**What?"**

"**Oh, of course, you wouldn't know — Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."**

**Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and moustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.**

"**So **_**this **_**is Dumbledore!" said Harry.**

"You're not serious?" laughed the twins.

"No I'm Sirius!"

"Shut up, Padfoot."

"**Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa — thanks —"**

**Harry turned over his card and read:**

_**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**_

_**CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS**_

_**Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times,**_

_**Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel.**_

"I still can't believe it was right there the whole time," Hermione said, scowling.

_**Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.**_

**Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared.**

"**He's gone!"**

"Well you can't expect him to hang around all day," Malfoy sneered.

"**Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day,"**

People snickered; Malfoy and Ron glared at each other.

**Said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her… do you want it? You can start collecting."**

**Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.**

"**Help yourself," said Harry.**

"**But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."**

"**Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. **_**"Weird!"**_

**Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore andMorgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the Druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.**

"**You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavour, they **_**mean **_**every flavour — you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-flavoured one once."**

"Hey I've gotten that too!" shouted a third year Slytherin.

**Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.**

"**Bleaaargh — see? Sprouts."**

"Sprouts aren't that bad," Hermione said, receiving several odd looks. "What?"

**They had a good time eating the Every Flavour Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny grey one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper.**

**The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.**

**There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful.**

Neville turned scarlet.

"**Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"**

**When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"**

"**He'll turn up," said Harry.**

"That really was nice Harry." Hermione smiled at her friend.

"**Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…" He left.**

"**Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."**

**The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.**

"**He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust.**

"I wish," Sirius muttered.

**"I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…"**

**He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.**

"**Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway —"**

**He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.**

"Hermione!" yelled the Gryffindors and a majority of the Ravenclaws. Rose looked excited.

"**Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.**

Hermione looked offended.

"I'm sorry, I was young." Sirius snorted at his godson.

"So how did you guys become friends?" Dean asked, and many nodded in agreement, remembering how they used to fight..

"You'll find out," Harry smirked, looking at his friends.

"**We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.**

"**Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."**

**She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.**

"**Er — all right."**

**He cleared his throat.**

"**Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."**

The hall, including Ron burst into laughter.

"I-I still c-can't believe I f-fell for that!" Ron cried.

"I can't believe you believed me!" George yelled.

**He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed grey and fast asleep.**

"**Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"**

**She said all this very fast.**

"She was nervous." Ron and Harry chirped. Hermione was now a very pink color.

**Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.**

"**I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.**

"**Harry Potter," said Harry.**

"**Are you really?"**

"No, he was lying."

**Said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in**_**Modern Magical History **_**and **_**The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts **_**and **_**Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century**_**."**

"**Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.**

"**Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me,"**

**Said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor,**

The table cheered.

**It sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."**

**And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.**

"**Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron.**

"Sorry," Ron said sheepishly. Hermione just shrugged.

"I was kind of a know-it-all back then, anyway."

"Oh, and you're not now?" Ron ducked under Hermione's smack.

**He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell — George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."**

"No, you just did it wrong," George said sarcastically.

"**What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.**

"**Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw **_**would **_**be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."**

"Like you're worthy enough to be a Slytherin," Sneered the Malfoys (Minus Scorpius who glared at them).

"**That's the house Vol-, I mean; You-Know-Who was in?"**

"**Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.**

"**You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses.**

"**So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"**

**Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.**

"**Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron.**

The eldest brothers high fived.

"**Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the **_**Daily Prophet**_**, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles — someone tried to rob a high security vault."**

**Harry stared.**

"**Really? What happened to them?"**

"**Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts,**

"Like Voldemort," Rose said quietly.

**But they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."**

"He was."

**Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying.**

"**What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked.**

"**Er — I don't know any." Harry confessed.**

"**What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait; it's the best game in the world —"**

"Totally," Wood smiled.

**And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.**

**Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.**

Harry and Malfoy glared at each other.

"**Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"**

"**Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.**

"**Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."**

"Bond, James Bond," laughed James, along with those who understood the reference.

**Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.**

"**Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasley's have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."**

The Gryffindors and Weasleys growled, glaring daggers at Malfoy.

**He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort.**

"I'd be dead before I was friends with you Malfoy," Harry glared at Draco.

"**I can help you there." He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.**

"**I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.**

**Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.**

"**I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents.**

A hex flew past Malfoy's head.

"Mr. Weasley!" Dumbledore said in a stern voice, "You don't go hexing other students!"

"Yes professor," Ron said sourly. Sirius looked like he wanted to kill the Malfoy heir.

**They didn't know what was good for them, either.**

If looks could kill, Draco would be dead several times over by now.

**You hang around with riffraff like the Weasley's and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."**

**Both Harry and Ron stood up.**

"**Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.**

"**Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.**

"**Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.**

"**But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."**

**Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touchedGoyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.**

**Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle**

"The one damn good thing Pettigrew did," growled Ron.

— **Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swungScabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbersfinally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in.**

"**What **_**has **_**been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.**

"**I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No — I don't believe it — he's gone back to sleep."**

**And so he had.**

"Lazy pig," Sirius muttered.

"I thought he was a rat?" Remus said innocently. Teddy snorted.

"**You've met Malfoy before?"**

**Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.**

"**I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched.**

"Lies," Harry growled. Every set of eyes in the Great Hall were on Lucius.

**My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"**

"**You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"**

"**Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"**

"**All right — I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"**

"Of course I don't know," Ron said sarcastically.

**Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down.**

**He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.**

Ron fidgeted and pulled his still too-short robes lower.

**A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."**

**Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.**

**The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"**

"Eh, could be better, I mean everyone knows Voldemort's back now, so, better then yesterday." Several people laughed at Harry.

**Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.**

"**C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"**

**Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.**

"**Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."**

**There was a loud "Oooooh!"**

"Ahhhhhh," the twins said.

**The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.**

"**No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione.**

"**Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself."Right then — FORWARD!"**

**And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.**

"**Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face.**

**They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.**

"**Oi, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.**

"**Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.**

**They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.**

"**Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"**

"Do you have to remind me?" asked Neville, as the Gryffindors laughed.

**Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.**

"That's the end of the chapter, who wants to read next?" Scorpius asked. James took the book from his hands and Scorpius dug into his food.

"**The Sorting Hat."**

**And another chapter done! The crew is finally at Hogwarts! The trio (plus Remus and Sirius) know who the Travelers are! The rest of Hogwarts won't find out for a long time still. I had so much fun writing this chapter! Can you believe? It's almost 10,000 words! Lol 29 pages :) until next time, also the surprise if we get fifty reviews is the next chapter, I finished it hours after posting the last chapter.**

**(Hey guys! Dndchk here- not really much to say except review, unless you want Ron to hex you! 10,000 words! I think I only have one chapter that long in my story... Very well done, theblonde2243! Have a chocolate frog!)**


	9. The Sorting Hat

**Hiiiya guys! God I'm overwhelmed- I received like 20 reviews since I updated last! That means we made the goal of 50 reviews! The big surprise is a funny one and is going to be two chapters away.**

**Here's a shout out to T-Stricker who was the 50****th**** review! I can't thank you enough. (Dndchk: Way to go! Fiftieth and hundredth reviewers are loved forever :D)**

**I also dedicate this chapter to the people who were in the Colorado shooting, I don't know anyone personal in it but someone from my state were killed saving his girlfriend and another got injured. I send the prayers out to the families of the deceased and injured.**

**Dndchk, I really hope you feel better after getting your wisdom teeth out!**

**(Dndchk: Thanks- I just wish my face would deflate soon...hehe. I look like Peter Pettigrew, ewwwwww.)**

**Announcement-I'm going up north this coming Sunday so I won't be able to post for a few days because of no internet, but I will be able to type, hopefully I will have a chapter up the minute I get back.**

**Disclaimer-Alright, I guess I haven't made this clear enough since someone reviewed saying they reported the story for copyright purposes (insane right?) I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER AND THE SOURCERS/PHILOSIPHERS STONE, I'M SIMPLY USING IT FOR PEOPLE'S ENTERTAINMENT, IT ALL BELONGS TO MISS. JOANNA ROWLING! SO F*** OFF!**

**(Dndchk: Honestly, you can't write fanfiction without using copyright *rolls eyes* Anyway, I noticed in a review that mentioned me- thanks :) by the way, has anyone ever noticed how weird the word Sorting is? Okay, I'm done now.)**

"_That's the end of the chapter, who wants to read next?" Scorpius asked. James took the book from his hands and Scorpius dug into his food. _

"_**The Sorting Hat."**_

Everyone in the room smiled at the memory of their own Sorting. They were also curious of what happened to Harry during his Sorting, as it was one of the longest Sortings in years.

**The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there.**

"Minne!" A few brave souls yelled, which included James.

**She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.**

"Nope," the trio, marauders, and twins said in unison. Everyone looked at them curiously.

"**The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.**

"**Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."**

**She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.**

**They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here — but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.**

The kids from that year blushed fiercely while everyone else awed.

"Aren't the ickle firsties so cute?" Fred asked his brother.

"It's not like you guys weren't first years also," Harry smirked. The twins looked away awkwardly.

"**Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts.**

**You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.**

Sirius and the twins snorted, the trio and Remus simply just smirked. The teachers eyed them suspiciously.

"**The four houses are called Gryffindor,**

Gryffindor cheered.

**Hufflepuff,**

Hufflepuff did the same.

**Ravenclaw,**

As did Ravenclaw.

**and Slytherin.**

The twins booed, making everyone except the Slytherins and teachers burst into laughter. Lucius glared in their direction. Mr. Weasley noticed and gave the oldest Malfoy a deadly look that said loud and clear, "Come near my family and die."

**Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards.**

"If you consider Voldemort outstanding then I guess you're correct," Harry said darkly. Everyone shuddered at You-Know-Who's proper name, save for the next generation, Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, Lucius (who actually tensed) and Umbridge, who has been rather quiet for the time being, glared daggers at Harry. She oddly still didn't believe that Voldemort was back. Maybe he was imperiused to say that?** (A/N is that even possible?)(Dndchk: Pshyeah, look at what Yaxley did to the Minister, Thickneese.)** She suddenly decided to have a talk with the minister about this after owling Amelia Bones for Sirius' hearing.

**While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points.**

The twins, Marauders, and trio looked innocently at notice ceiling. They haven't lost too many house points, had they?

**At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour.**

The Gryffindors, who were the defending champions for the last four years, cheered.

**I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.**

"**The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."**

"Forge does my hair look alright?" asked George in a high voice that sounded much like a child's.

"Yes Gred, but you got dirt on your nose." The twins laughed while Ron's ears went bright red.

**Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose.**

The twins laughed harder.

**Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.**

"I don't think the charms that fixed my hair at the Yule ball would fix your hair, Harry," Hermione laughed, along with the others who knew about Harry's untamable head of hair.

"**I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."**

"Quietly?" Laughed Alicia. "Eleven year olds' term of quiet is outdoor voices." Some of the Gryffindors snickered.

**She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.**

"**How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.**

"I don't know! Rumor has it you have to wrestle a troll!" Some people laughed at the rumor that was always spread on the train, but not as hard as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who actually went up against a troll later that year.

"**Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."**

**Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet —what on earth would he have to do?**

**He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived. He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need.**

"Why would we make you do magic to see where you are sorted?" asked Minerva, as the older students shrugged.

**Harry tried hard not to listen to her. He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue.**

"She looked better in blue," Harry chuckled. The teachers looked at him incredulously. That was some major accidental magic he did.

**He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom.**

Harry tensed. It didn't go unnoticed.

"You okay, Harry?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Harry answered immediately, but Sirius could see he was hiding something.

**Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air — several people behind him screamed.**

"The ghosts," everyone said, smiling. Everyone but Peeves and the Bloody Baron were loved by all the houses.

"**What the —?"**

**He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall.**

**Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fatlittle monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —"**

"Please don't," Some people grumbled, knowing they were talking about Peeves the Poltergeist.

"**My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost — I say, what are you all doing here?"**

"Getting ice cream and singing Christmas carols," Justin said sarcastically.

**A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.**

**Nobody answered.**

"**New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"**

**A few people nodded mutely.**

"**Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."**

"**Move along now,"**

A few of the Hufflepuffs glared at Minerva.

"You really shouldn't have been so rude. Friar is the nicest ghost in the castle and was just being friendly." Minerva ignored their objections and motioned James to continue.

**said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."**

**Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.**

"**Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."**

**Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead,**

**Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair,**

"That's Seamus!" Yelled some Gryffindors.

**With Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.**

**Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting.**

**These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.**

"You've got to love magic." Sighed a friend of Luna's.

**He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in **_**Hogwarts, A History**_**."**

**It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.**

**Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house.**

"Before any of you Gryffindors say anything, no, you may not take the Hat out of the castle." McGonagall sighed sadly. She actually considered doing it herself, but it would cost her her job.

_**Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it**_**,**

Confused Half-bloods and purebloods were ignored.

**Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing — noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat,he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:**

"_**Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,**_

_**But don't judge on what you see,**_

_**I'll eat myself if you can find**_

_**A smarter hat than me.**_

The kids who haven't heard the song laughed.

"Gred, make note of that," Fred snickered.

_**You can keep your bowlers black,**_

_**Your top hats sleek and tall,**_

_**For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat**_

_**And I can cap them all.**_

_**There's nothing hidden in your head**_

_**The Sorting Hat can't see,**_

_**So try me on and I will tell you**_

_**Where you ought to be.**_

_**You might belong in Gryffindor,**_

_**Where dwell the brave at heart,**_

_**Their daring, nerve, and chivalry**_

_**Set Gryffindors apart;**_

James smirked at Albus, he told him that he would be a Gryffindor.

_**You might belong in Hufflepuff,**_

_**Where they are just and loyal,**_

_**Those patient Hufflepuffs are true**_

_**And unafraid of toil;**_

The whole hall saddened in remembrance of Cedric.

_**Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,**_

_**If you've a ready mind,**_

_**Where those of wit and learning,**_

_**Will always find their kind;**_

_**Or perhaps in Slytherin**_

_**You'll make your real friends,**_

_**Those cunning folk use any means**_

_**To achieve their ends.**_

Harry snorted; Sirius and Remus looked at Harry with concern.

_**So put me on! Don't be afraid!**_

_**And don't get in a flap!**_

_**You're in safe hands (though I have none)**_

_**For I'm a Thinking Cap!"**_

Everyone applauded.

**The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.**

"**So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred; he was going on about wrestling a troll."**

The trio snorted, this was going to be a long couple of chapters.

**Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching.**

**The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment.**

**If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.**

"At that moment, it would fit everyone," Laughed Remus.

Albus sat quietly next to his brother, cousin, and friends. His Sorting was probably the scariest moment of all of his Hogwarts career, and he'd had some pretty scary moments.

* * *

_The Sorting Ceremony, 2017_

_Al stood nervously between Rose and Scorpius. He was going to be put into Slytherin, he just knew it. _

_The Great Hall's doors opened once again to show Neville- er, Professor Longbottom, head of Gryffindor House and Herbology teacher. He smiled at Rose and Albus, then started the annual speech about the houses. Albus didn't listen. He kept replaying all of James' rants about how all Slytherins become evil, and how he had Slytherin potential. Part of him knew he was joking, but another said that he was right. Al was powerful, he was ambitious, and he was willing to prove himself. _

"_Come on, Al!" Rose whispered. Al snapped back to reality; the Great Hall's doors were once again open and kids were piling in. Albus sighed and followed his cousin into the Hall. Professor Longbottom took out the Sorting Hat and set it on the stool._

**Come one, come all**

**Let me sort you into the house which calls. **

**Are you Brave and bold**

**Like loyal Gryffindor?**

**Or are you intelligent and witty**

**Like wise old Ravenclaw?**

**Maybe you're loyal and kind**

**Like the gentle Hufflepuff,**

**You may be quite ambitious,**

**Like the cunning old Slytherin.**

**Though we all may have a different place,**

**We all must unite as one,**

**To create harmony among the Houses.**

**Please listen to these words carefully**

**And consider what they mean.**

**And now we come to the moment of truth-**

**Let the Sorting now begin.**

_After a moment of silence, the Hall burst into applause. _

"_Aaron, Ryan!" Neville called, and a darker boy with short brown hair walked up to the stool. Neville placed the hat on his head. _

"_GRYFFINDOR!" it yelled almost instantly. Ryan smiled wildly and went and sat next to James. Sixteen or so names went by until Scorpius's name was called. He sat with the hat on his head for about a minute until it yelled, "SLYTHERIN!" Scorp took off the hat looking disappointed. He glanced over at Albus and Rose and gave them reassuring smiles, which they returned. _

_Al listened intently as the hat sorted two Hufflepuffs, one more Slytherin, a Ravenclaw, and another Gryffindor. _

"_Potter, Albus!" Neville said. Al froze. He couldn't do it, he just couldn't face being sorted into Slytherin. He then remembered what his dad said. _

"_If it makes you feel better, the Sorting Hat takes the house you want into consideration."_

_Al nodded to himself and sat on the uneven bench. _

"_Ah... another Potter. Let's see- well, you have potential, you're smart, but not smart enough for Ravenclaw. Ah... you're much like your father, willing to prove yourself, maybe Slytherin would be a good choice…"_

"_No," __Al thought quickly._

"_Think how far Slytherin could bring you, you could follow in your father's footsteps, become an Auror, maybe save the world?"_

"_And I can only do that in Gryffindor," he thought determinedly. _

"_Well, if you insist."__ The Hat paused for a moment; Al held his breath... "GRYFFINDOR!" Cheers erupted from the Lions' table. Al ran down to sit with his brother, grinning broadly, nearly tripping on one of the steps. _

_Rose was one of the last to be sorted. When her name was called, she walked up, determined as ever. Seconds after Neville put the Hat on her head, it yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!" _

_Great Hall, Present Day_

* * *

"You alright, Al?" Rose whispered. He smiled and nodded. James looked concernedly at his little brother, but continued reading.

**Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.**

"**When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"**

**A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause —**

"**HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.**

**The table on the right cheered and clapped**

The Hufflepuffs cheered as Hannah blushed.

**as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.**

"**Bones, Susan!"**

"**HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.**

The table cheered again.

"**Boot, Terry!"**

"**RAVENCLAW!"**

The Ravenclaws cheered.

**The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.**

"**Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.**

Gryffindors cheered while the twins once again catcalled. Lavender blushed and threw her remaining sandwiches at the twins. It was a pretty good shot- peanut butter got all over Fred's face, mustard on George's, making the Hall laugh. They laughed even harder when Mrs. Weasley started cleaning their faces for them, fussing like a mother hen.

"**Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot.**

"You're really observant Harry, you know that?" Ginny laughed. Harry didn't respond. He had been so close to becoming one of them...

**He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him.**

James and Albus looked at the book, confused. Uncle Dudley was _nice_ to them. Then they remembered that Harry hadn't saved his life at that point in the books.

"**Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"**

"**HUFFLEPUFF!"**

The Hufflepuffs, and a single Ravenclaw (who happens to be his girlfriend, cheered.

**Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.**

The Gryffindors cheered while Seamus shuddered.

"It almost put me in Slytherin, the only thing that was holding him back was that I wasn't ambitious enough." The Great all looked at the 5th year Gryffindor, shocked. Harry felt a mixture of surprise and relief- he wasn't the only one.

"**Granger, Hermione!"**

**Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.**

Hermione blushed.

"**GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.**

"Why aren't you in Ravenclaw?" asked more then half of the Ravenclaws. Hermione simply shrugged.

**Ron groaned.**

Ron placed the most innocent smile on his face he could, "Sorry."

Rose smiled at the table. Her parents liked to joke about how they had positively hated each other for the first few months of school.

**A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?**

"Professor, has there ever been a person in history who wasn't sorted into a House?" a curious Ravenclaw asked, and to their surprise, Dumbledore nodded.

"I believe that before we had the muggle protection spells, a muggle managed to get mixed into the first years. I wasn't there, but from what I heard, it was quite a shock."

"Wait- the muggle protection spells were founded back in 1657!" yelled a Ravenclaw. Everyone laughed.

**When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad,**

"Oh, thanks," Neville said sarcastically.

**was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."**

Everyone, even Neville, laughed.

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherins cheered this time, while Fred and George, not surprisingly, booed.

**Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.**

**There weren't many people left now. "Moon"… , "Nott"… , "Parkinson"… , then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"… , then "Perks, Sally-Anne"… , and then, at last —**

"**Potter, Harry!"**

Harry stiffened and paled.

"Professor, is there any way we could skip this part?"

"NO!" yelled a majority of the Hall, answering for Dumbledore. Harry sighed; right now he would rather be in detention with Umbridge with her medieval tortures.

**As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.**

"_**Potter**_**, did she say?"**

"_**The **_**Harry Potter?"**

"No duh, what other Potter is there?" growled Draco. He hated how Potter got all the attention. The next generation kids though, couldn't help but snicker. The trio and Remus sent warning looks at their kids.

**The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him.**

All the Potters groaned. They hated it more then anything when someone did that. More suspicious looks were shot at Harry's sons.

**Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.**

"**Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult.**

"Difficult? What does he mean, difficult? you're Gryffindor all the way!" surprisingly, it was Minerva who said this.

**Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, A my goodness, yes — and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… So where shall I put you?"**

"Oh, I don't know, Gryffindor?" the twins and Lee said.

**Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, **_**Not Slytherin, not Slytherin**_**.**

"**Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that**

Silence passed through the hall like a shockwave. Harry Potter, _the _Harry Potter, was almost put into Slytherin. After a moment, a brave first year Slytherin spoke up.

"I could see him here, I mean he's a Parselmouth and all…" the Gryffindors shot glares at the small girl.

"That was because of Voldemort," Harry said grumpily. He rolled his eyes when nearly everyone flinched.

"Wait," Draco said getting back on subject, "You were going to be put into _Slytherin!_" Harry nodded. Snape looked at Harry, shocked, looking even more so than Sirius and Remus.

"Harry, you do know we would still love you, even if you were Slytherin," Sirius said. Remus nodded. Harry smiled.

"Thanks guys."

— **No? Well, if you're sure — better be GRYFFINDOR!"**

The Gryffindors cheered louder than before. The twins once again were chanting, "WE GOT POTTER! WE GOT POTTER!"

**Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin; he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously,**

"Sorry about that," Percy said. The Weasleys, Sirius, Remus, Harry, and Hermione looked at him ludicrously. Was he having a change of heart?

Rose and Al grinned at each other. It looked like Uncle Percy would be coming back two years early.

**While the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"**

**Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water.**

Everyone who'd experienced it shuddered.

**He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back. And there, in the centre of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Harry recognized him at once from the card he'd gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train.**

"Dumbledore!" screamed the Hall.

**Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. Harry spotted ProfessorQuirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.**

The trio growled.

"He did look rather odd," said McGonagall.

**And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table.**

"**Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now.**

**Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"**

Ron's ears turned bright red as his table and family cheered for him.

**Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.**

"**Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously.**

"That's a big word," Crabbe pointed out. Everyone ignored his stupidity.

**Across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.**

**Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago.**

**Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.**

"Nothing ever does," Dumbledore stated, smiling.

"**Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!**

"**Thank you!"**

"S-Such a moving speech." The twins took napkins and pretended to wipe their tears and blow their noses. Everyone laughed.

**He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.**

"**Is he — a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly.**

"Everyone's a bit mad Harry."

"**Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes.**

Everyone snickered while a certain Weasley blushed furiously.

**Potatoes, Harry?"**

**Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.**

"I've had them, they are quite pleasant." Luna said dreamily. Several people gave her odd looks, while others nodded empathetically.

**The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry,**

"If you weren't given three meals a day every day a year, they starved you," argued Madam Pomfrey. No one mentioned it was just a book.

**But he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if it made him sick.**

"Why didn't I try eating beetles?" laughed Harry, along with some of the boys. The girls all looked disgusted.

**Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermint humbugs and began to eat. It was all delicious.**

"**That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak.**

"**Can't you —?"**

"**I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost.**

"That must suck," muttered Ron.

"**I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."**

"**I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you — you're Nearly Headless Nick!"**

"**I would **_**prefer **_**you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy —" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finniganinterrupted.**

"_**Nearly **_**Headless? How can you be **_**nearly **_**headless?"**

"Oh no..." muttered Bill and Charlie.

**Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.**

"Nope, it's going exactly how he wants it," Remus laughed.

"**Like **_**this**_**," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly.**

"How can you not decapitate someone properly?" Cho asked.

**Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So — new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindorshave never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! **

**The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable — he's the Slytherin ghost."**

The Slytherins glared over at the Gryffindor ghost, who had just entered the Great Hall.

**Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.**

"Git." Draco growled. No one but Lucius heard, who smiled slightly at his only child.

"**How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.**

"**I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.**

**When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding…**

Everyone's mouths were watering, but too were full to ask the professor for any of it.

**As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.**

"**I'm half-and-half,"**

"And proud of it!" Seamus and Harry high fived.

**said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mum didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."**

**The others laughed.**

"You're lucky it turned out well," murmured a Hufflepuff girl. Things hadn't ended quite that way between her parents.

"**What about you, Neville?" said Ron.**

"**Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages.**

"Squib, Neville, not muggle." Hermione corrected.

"I know that now." Neville blushed.

**My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me**

"Neville we're going to have to have a word with your family," Minerva said instantly.

— **he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned — **

"That's horrible!" Mrs. Weasley gasped.

**but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go.**

Many Gryffindors looked at Neville worriedly. What if he'd gotten hurt?

**But I bounced — all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here — they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."**

"Should've got an owl like Gran suggested," Neville mumbled, and his roommates nodded in agreement.

**On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons. He turned to this conversation in the hopes of avoiding awkward family questions.**

"You didn't know your blood status?" Pansy asked. She was glaring but actually seemed curious. Harry shook his head.

"I don't think I learned about that until my second or third year." He got many shocked looks.

**("I **_**do **_**hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult —"; **"**You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing — ").**

**Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.**

Snape glared at Harry, who smirked at him.

"Nice description Harry," Sirius whispered into Harry's ear. They both snorted. Remus had to suppress a grin.

**It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes — and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.**

As if on cue, Harry felt his car prickle, more painful then it had been for a while. He rubbed it, not noticing Ron and Hermione exchanging worried looks.

"**Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head.**

"**What is it?" asked Percy.**

"**N-nothing."**

**The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look — a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all.**

"The feeling's mutual," Harry said loud enough for Severus to hear.

**Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy.**

"**Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape.**

**He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to — everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."**

"_Wonder why?_" Sirius, the trio, and Lucius thought sarcastically.

**Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again.**

**At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.**

"**Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered.**

"Neeeeiiiigh!" Lee yelled, tossing his head. The Hall, except for Lucius and Umbridge, burst into hysterical laughter.

"_Wow," _Thought Harry, watching the Minister chortle. _"Fudge seems to have calmed down a bit. I wonder why he's not freaking out that Voldemort's back...is he waiting for more proof?"_

**I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.**

"**First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."**

**Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.**

"Why only us?"

"These three have been in the forest-"

"More than us!" the twins complained.

"Wait, what do you mean, 'you three have been in the forest more than these two'?" Sirius and Molly growled.

"You'll see." mumbled Harry. He was going to be in such deep trouble after this. Apparently, Ron was thinking the same thing, because he turned white.

"**I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.**

"No one ever follows that rule," Minerva sighed.

"**Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.**

Wood and the Quidditch maniacs cheered.

"**And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."**

"Harry, please tell me you don't go into that corridor," groaned Sirius.

"Eh... about that…" Harry started. Remus groaned also.

"I blame James," he muttered, too low for anyone to hear.

**Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.**

"**He's not serious?"**

"No, I am!"

"Padfoot," Moony warned.

**he muttered to Percy.**

"**Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere — the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."**

"Well, there is someone after something on that floor, so of course they wouldn't tell anyone," Ron snorted. Several confused students looked at him.

"**And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.**

"Could we, Professor?" asked Colin cheerfully. Dumbledore nodded and the golden ribbon from Harry's first year shot out of his wand.

"When the books starts we will," Dumbledore announced. Minerva resisted the urge to bang her head on the table; it wouldn't be very professional.

**Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end,**

**And a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.**

"**Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"**

**And the school bellowed:**

As the school did now:

_**Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,**_

_**Teach us something please,**_

_**Whether we be old and bald**_

_**Or young with scabby knees,**_

_**Our heads could do with filling**_

_**With some interesting stuff,**_

_**For now they're bare and full of air,**_

_**Dead flies and bits of fluff,**_

_**So teach us things worth knowing,**_

_**Bring back what we've forgot,**_

_**Just do your best, we'll do the rest,**_

_**And learn until our brains all rot."**_

**Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march.**

The twins, and this time Sirius, did the same.

**Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.**

"**Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"**

"Trot?" asked a Slytherin.

"Another word for go." Cho explained.

"I know that Chang." Sneered the Slytherin. "It was rhetorical."

"Whatever you say." She grumbled back. Many of her friends glared at the particular Slytherin.

**The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.**

"Oh no." Sirius grumbled, having a good idea of what was coming. Why did he have to teach Peeves to be such a jerk?

**A bundle of walking sticks was floating in mid-air ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.**

"Peeves," the hall growled.

"Did someone call for me?" The poltergeist cackled, appearing into view with a pop. He floated in midair, cradling an armful of water balloons. Before anyone could react, he threw dozens of them at each table. One, unfortunately, hit Ron right in the face, but another thankfully hit Lucius.

"Peeves! Out!" Bellowed Dumbledore, the sparkle leaving his eyes. Peeves blew a raspberry and left the Hall immediately. With the flick of his wand, Dumbledore dried the Great Hall.

"**Peeves,"**

James continued as though nothing had happened. Peeves was much worse in the future- water balloons were tame for the poltergeist he knew.

**Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves — show yourself."**

**A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.**

"**Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"**

**There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.**

"**Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties!What fun!"**

**He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.**

"**Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy**

**Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head.**

"I had to go to the Hospital Wing for that," Scorpius mumbled. Rose patted his hand sympathetically.

**They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armour as he passed.**

"**You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects.**

"He listens to Dumbledore!" a Hufflepuff yelled.

**Here we are."**

**At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.**

"**Password?" she said.**

The Slytherins' faces gleamed, while the Gryffindors paled.

"Professor, will we be changing the passwords after we catch up to fifth year?" Hermione asked.

"Of course," Minerva answered immediately. The Slytherins groaned quietly.

"**Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it — Neville needed a leg up — and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cosy, round room full of squashy armchairs.**

**Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase — they were obviously in one of the towers — they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.**

"**Great food, isn't it?"**

**Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get **_**off**_**,Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets.**

"That _thing_ had problems," Molly growled.

**Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once.**

"It's the deserts that do that, Harry," Ron explained.

**Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream. He was wearing Professor Quirrell'sturban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully — and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it — then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold — there was a burst of green light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking.**

"Harry, you've always had the oddest dreams," Hermione laughed uneasily. Harry really wished he could have a dream like that instead of the nightmares that haunt his sleep nowadays.

**He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he didn't remember the dream at all.**

"That's the end of the chapter," James announced. He looked at the title of the next chapter and smirked. "Professor Snape? Why don't _you_ read next?"

"No." He answered curtly, but it was too late- the book was already in front of him. He picked it up grudgingly and scowled when he saw the title.

"**The Potions Master.**"

**An: Well, I'll see you guys next week! Please review!**

**(Dndchk: Or else Peeves will throw water balloons at you! Haha!)**


	10. Sorry

**Hey guys. **

**This isn't an update but a brief notice. **

**A very close family member of mine has past away and I'm not going to update for a couple of weeks. **

**I hope you understand**

**-Theblond2243**


	11. The Potions Master

**Extremely long authors note: Hey guys, I'm back. It has been an extremely long two weeks hasn't it? **

**First off: Thank you- Flying Chrissy, LandOfTheLivingSkys, bookworm299, tucklil, Lozzien Lavender, Harriet Telcontar Holms, RandomFandom5, Margret Luna Sullivan, serinityselena, madnessdownunder2, Fluteorwrite, and T-Striker for you condolences, you have no clue how much they've helped. **

**A super special thanks to Dndchk who was here for me through this hard time and for being an awesome friend. Also for editing, but she knows that already :P (Dndchk: I do? Okay.)**

**Now a couple announcements-**

**I know I still have to type the fiftieth review surprise thing that I have in store, but now I'm also getting close to 100. If we can get to 100 you will get a sneak peak on what's to come. Sound good? (Dndchk: Even I don't know what she's got planned, so please review!)**

**Guess what month it is? August, that means for most school is just around the corner. I sadly start on September 4****th**** and it's my first year of High school. (Dndchk: Lucky, I start August sixth...) I'm signing up for three or four clubs (including Harry Potter club xD) (Dndchk:NOT ME? WHYYYY?) and I need to keep up with my academics. So updates will come a little less often starting next month. (probably once a week but I'll keep you updated.)**

**To add onto my crazy schedule I also decided to edit a story I worked on with an old friend, because minus some plot holes and stupidness that can be fixed, it had potential. **

**This authors note was being typed on the 31****st**** so HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY POTTER AND JK ROWLING I DON'T KNOW HOW MY LIFE WOULD BE WITHOUT YOU! (Dndchk: Happy birthday Harry! I wouldn't be me if it weren't for you!)**

**Last thing this authors note took 20 minutes to type! That's insane!**

**Disclaimer- All copyright goes to JK Rowlings. I don't own anything. **

"**The Potions Master."**

Snape glared at the book, then at James, who smirked.

"**There, look."**

"**Where?"**

"**Next to the tall kid with the red hair."**

"**Wearing the glasses?"**

"**Did you see his face?"**

"**Did you see his scar?"**

"That's probably worse then everyone craning their heads to see me." Harry growled.

He noticed tons of people looking guilty.

**Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory the next day.**

"Happens every year, mate," Ron laughed.

"Does not!" Harry put on an intense thinking face. "Wait- you're right. And it sucks."

**People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring. Harry wished they wouldn't, because he was trying to concentrate on finding his way to classes.**

**There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts:**

Everyone looked at him, astonished.

"Hermione," Ron and Harry said smiling at the third member of the trio, who was blushing.

**Wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and Harry was sure the coats of armour could walk.**

"They can-" George growled.

"They've told on us plenty of times." Fred finished.

"You guys have to learn how to bribe them," Sirius twins looked astonished. They didn't even know that was possible.

**The ghosts didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided suddenly through a door you were trying to open. Nearly Headless Nick was always happy to point new Gryffindors in the right direction, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class. He would drop wastepaper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk, or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose, and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!"**

Everyone looked at the Marauders, who raised their hands innocently.

"It wasn't us... it was an old friend of ours!" Remus said.

**Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch.**

No one protested, everyone hated him.

**Harry and Ron managed to get on the wrong side of him on their very first morning.**

"We're disappointed-"

"It took us five minutes after the beginning of term feast," The twins explained.

"Only five?" Sirius asked.

**Filch found them trying to force their way through a door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor.**

"You guys really need to pay more attention to where you are in the castle," Hermione sighed.

**Filch found them trying to force their way through a door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor.**

"Thank God you don't know the Alohamora Charm then," Neville said, shuddering at the memory of the three headed dog.

**He wouldn't believe they were lost, was sure they were trying to break into it on purpose, and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons**

Minerva glared at the book.

**when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing.**

"Wow. I'm surprised the bloody man didn't try to kill you," Hermione said darkly. Her two best friends looked at her, surprised at her tone of voice.

**Filch owned a cat called Mrs Norris, a scrawny, dust-coloured creature with bulging, lamp like eyes just likeFilch's.**

**She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she'd whisk off for Filch,**

"I never understood how a cat was able to do that," Remus said, curiosity showing in his eyes.

"Maybe it's an illegal Animigus," Sirius whispered back. Remus glared at him.

"You're lucky not to be back in Azkaban or getting the kiss right now for being one." Sirius looked at him, frowning. That was not like Remus at all.

**who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins)**

"And us," Sirius and Remus added.

**And could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs Norris a good kick.**

Many people nodded.

**And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the classes themselves. There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.**

"It kind of is like that, but more complicated," Harry corrected.

**They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout,**

Professor Sprout looked hurt at the Gryffindor, who shot her an apoligetic look.

**where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for. Easily the most boring class was History of Magic,**

The twins snored loudly. The Hall laughed.

**Which was the only one taught by a ghost.**

**Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates, and got Emetic the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up.**

"Still get them mixed up," Ron said.

**Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk.**

**At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.**

Both Flitwick and Harry blushed when the Hall laughed.

**Professor McGonagall was again different. Harry had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross.**

"Right you are," The twins, trio, and Marauders grumbled. They'd lost too many House Points and had too many detentions from of her.

**Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.**

"**Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."**

"Same speech every year, Minnie?" Sirius laughed.

"Well, for most people, Mr. Black, it is very true."

**Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle.**

"Got it on my second try," Sirius said proudly, making his godson chuckle.

**By the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made any difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Hermione a rare smile.**

"Nice job, Hermione," Ron cheered. Hermione blushed.

"It was four and a half years ago, Ron!"

"So? I need to make up for the first half if that year."

**The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke.**

"Only one Defense teacher's weren't, and that was Professor Lupin's," a brave Ravenclaw stated. Remus reddened slightly while Umbridge huffed. Why the students thought a filthy half-breed was better than her was simply preposterous! It had to be more proof that Dumbledore was brainwashing the students...

**His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie,**

"Or maybe it was to hide something," Ron growled.

**But they weren't sure they believed this story.**

"Don't."

**For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather;** **For another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.**

"Maybe that was because of Voldemort not bathing in ten years," Harry whispered to his friends. Ron choked on his pumpkin juice and Hermione tried, and failed, not to burst into uncontrollable laughter. Everyone else looked at them bemusedly.

**Harry was very relieved to find out that he wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn't have much of a head start.**

"No one ever does…"

**Friday was an important day for Harry and Ron. They finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once.**

The twins applauded, and after a second, the rest of the Gryffindors joined in. Ron and Harry blushed furiously.

"**What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron as he poured sugar on his porridge.**

"**Double Potions with the Slytherins,"**

Slytherins and Gryffindors alike groaned or growled.

**said Ron. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favours them — we'll be able to see if it's true."**

"It's true." Everyone except for some Slytherin's and Snape replied. The next generation kids looked confused. Their parents and/or godparents always spoke highly of Snape.

"**Wish McGonagall favoured us," said Harry.**

"She does." Snape glared at McGonagall who glared back. Many Slytherins nodded.

**Professor McGonagall was Head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework the day before.**

"How else are you supposed to learn how to do magic?" Minerva asked rhetorically.

**Just then, the mail arrived. Harry had gotten used to this by now, but it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps.**

**Hedwig hadn't brought Harry anything so far. She sometimes flew in to nibble his ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls.**

"Your owl's so sweet, Harry!" Lavender brown squealed.

**This morning, however, she fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Harry's plate. Harry tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:**

_**Dear Harry,**_

_**I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three?**_

_**I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.**_

_**Hagrid**_

**Harry borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled **_**Yes, please, see you later **_**on the back of the note, and sent Hedwig off again.**

**It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far.**

"I took that back a few weeks later," Harry laughed. Neville, Hermione and Ron looked terrified.

**At the start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he'd been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Harry — he **_**hated **_**him.**

"No, he hates your father," Sirius growled. The two Marauders glared at the Potions Master, who ignored them and kept reading.

Harry frowned. He knew Snape hated his father, but he'd never found out why, specifically. Maybe Sirius or Remus could tell him later...

**Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.**

**Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.**

"**Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new —**_**celebrity**_**."**

"Very mature, Snivellus," Harry's godfather growled.

"I wouldn't be talking, Black, you're the one who's still using my old _nickname_ from when we were in school." The two rivals glared at each other for another few seconds. The Hall just stared at the two in shock. They all knew how Remus and Snape hated each other, (or at least, didn't care for, in Remus' case) but never about Snape and Sirius. After a moment of tense silence, Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat and Snape kept reading.

**Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth.**

"No one has Hagrid's warmth," Hermione sighed.

**They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.**

"You make it sound like he got the Dementor's kiss," Dean shuddered, along with the rest of the Hall. No one liked Dementors.

"**You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word — like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort.**

"That's not a gift."

"**As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory,even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."**

The students and teachers glared at Snape who slid into his seat a little further.

**More silence followed this little speech. Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.**

"You're not," Ron and Harry answered instantly. Hermione blushed.

"Thanks guys."

"**Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"**

"He asked you that?" Sirius asked furiously.

"It's okay, I know what it is now. The draught of the living death."

"But did you know what it was then?" Sirius persisted. After a moment, Harry shook his head. Sirius growled.

_**Powdered root of what to an infusion of what**_**? Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air.**

"**I don't know, sir," said Harry.**

**Snape's lips curled into a sneer.**

"**Tut, tut — fame clearly isn't everything."**

"Never said it was."

**He ignored Hermione's hand.**

"**Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"**

"The stomach of a goat," Harry smirked up at his professor. Snape glared at him.

**Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, but Harry didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was. He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter.**

"It's not like you dunderheads knew it either," Ron said, glaring over at the Slytherins.

"**I don't know, sir."**

"**Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?"**

"I did, I just don't absorb the information like Hermione does."

**Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes.**

**He had looked through his books at the Dursleys', but did Snape expect him to remember everything in **_**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi**_**?**

"Like I just said."

**Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand.**

"**What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood andwolfsbane?"**

"They're the same thing. Trick question," Remus answered for Harry.

**At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.**

"**I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"**

"You really do have Lily's cheek." Sirius laughed.

**A few people laughed; Harry caught Seamus's eye, and Seamus winked. Snape, however, was not pleased.**

"Ahh, he never is," George said.

"**Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"**

"You didn't tell us to," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

**There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."**

"I did kind of deserve it.." Harry grumbled.

**Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like.**

"Well, he is my godson," Snape said. Everyone just looked at him.

**He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon.**

Neville sighed dramatically.

**Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.**

"It only took Madam Pomfrey a second to fix," Neville stated, but no one was listening.

"**Idiot boy!"**

"That's no way to talk to a student Severus," Dumbledore said calmly, but the sparkle normally present in his eyes was gone. Snape grumbled something and continued reading.

**Snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"**

**Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.**

"**Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.**

"**You — Potter — why didn't you tell him not to add the quills?**

"You expect me to work on my own potion _and_ Neville's potion?" Harry fumed. Why was he getting so mad all of a sudden? Was Voldemort angry about something, maybe?

**Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."**

McGonagall sent an uncharacteristic glare at Snape.

**This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron.**

"**Don't push it," he muttered, "I've heard Snape can turn very nasty."**

"You've got that right."

**As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Harry's mind was racing and his spirits were low. He'd lost two points for Gryffindor in his very first week**

"It's alright-" Fred started.

"We lost twenty-"

"Each!" the twins finished together.

—_**why **_**did Snape hate him so much?**

"Because of James," Sirius clarified once again.

"**Cheer up," said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George.**

"What's new there?"

**Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?"**

"You didn't have to ask, I just figured you'd come anyway." Harry said.

**At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.**

The trio and Charlie smiled. They loved that house.

**When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "**_**Back**_**, Fang —**_**back**_**."**

"He's actually not vicious," Ron stated.

"It's the ones with the cute names you should be afraid of," Hermione laughed darkly.

"Like Fluffy," Harry added. No one laughed this time.

**Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open.**

"**Hang on," he said. "**_**Back**_**, Fang."**

"He never listens, does he?"

**He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.**

**There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.**

"**Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears. Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.**

"**This is Ron," Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.**

"**Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles.**

All the Weasleys, including Rose, blushed.

"It's always the freckles," Scorpius whispered to her, making her blush harder.

**"I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."**

"Why did you want to go to the forest so bad?" Ron asked. His brothers shrugged.

"It's a place to hide-"

"And plan."

"We also wanted to see what was _really_ in there."

**The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first lessons. Fang rested his head on Harry's knee and drooled all over his robes.**

"That was kind of really gross."

"What do you mean, kind of?"

**Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch "that old git."**

"**An' as fer that cat, Mrs Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime.**

"How about Fluffy instead?" Harry said with an evil grin.

**D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her — Filch puts her up to it."**

**Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.**

"Only the Slytherins," Bill sighed.

"**But he seemed to really **_**hate **_**me."**

"**Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?"**

"James," Sirius and Remus said at the same time.

"I think we've figured it out guys," Harry sighed. His curiosity mounted each time they said anything.

**Yet Harry couldn't help thinking that Hagrid didn't quite meet his eyes when he said that.**

"**How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot — great with animals."**

"I was the one who got him Fang," Charlie smiled. He liked Hagrid as much as Hagrid liked him.

**Harry wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose.**

"Of course he did."

**While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cosy. It was a cutting from the **_**Daily Prophet**_**:**

_**GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST**_

_**Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.**_

"_**But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.**_

The twins fake coughed. Harry smirked.

James sighed. He, Al, Rose, and Scorpius found out about the Azkaban break out the same way.

_The five of them sat awkwardly in Hagrid's hut. James guessed Hagrid just wasn't expecting a certain Slytherin to be with them. Truthfully, James wasn't either. Al had mentioned a new friend he made, but he didn't say it was a Malfoy. _

"_So," Hagrid started after a minute, "How do you guys like yer classes?" Rose and Albus went on about how nice the teachers were and so on. Scorpius looked lost for words. James was about to ask how he, Al, and Rose met when they heard a tapping on the window. Albus walked over to the window and opened it for a Ministry owl to fly in. He took the newspaper and paid the owl its money. _

"_Hey guys, dad's in the paper," Al said._

"_Big shocker there Al. He's only one of the most famous wizards of all time, when isn't he?" Albus ignored James' remark and read the article out loud._

"_On September 3__rd, __two high security prisoners, Lucius Malfoy and Fenrir Greyback, broke out of Azkaban Prison. We would like everyone to be on high alert because one of the two is a Werewolf._

_Harry Potter, head of the Aurors, assured the public that the criminals will be their top priority at the moment. For now we urge witches and wizards to not be out alone. In the case of any sightings, do not attack, but contact the Auror offices immediately."_

_Silence filled the cabin. Scorpius looked paler than usual, and Hagrid was looking very worried. _

"_You three ought ter get back ter the castle- it's startin ter'get late." They nodded and said their goodbyes. _

That was probably one of the biggest shocks of the year.

**Harry remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date.**

"**Hagrid!" said Harry, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"**

Ron and Hermione sighed.

"What?" Harry demanded. "An eleven year old can't be curious?"

"Of course they can be curious, just not you Harry," Hermione smirked. Harry pouted jokingly.

**There was no doubt about it; Hagrid definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time.**

**He grunted and offered him another rock cake. Harry read the story again. **_**The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. **_**Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package. Had that been what the thieves were looking for?**

"Yeah," the trio said in unison.

**As Harry and Ron walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse, Harry thought that none of the lessons he'd had so far had given him as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Had Hagrid collected that package just in time? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Harry?**

"Why me?" Snape asked. Harry shrugged. "Well that's the end of the chapter, who wants to read?" Sirius raised his hand and the book floated over to him.

"**The Midnight Duel."**

**Done! *sighs with relief* Expect the next few chappies quickly cuz they are a few of my favorite. Especially Halloween!**

**How'd you guys like the flashback? Should I keep doing them?**

**(Dndchk: ooh, please do! Greyback is my favorite villain in the series- for those of you who can't tell, I have a bit of an obsession with werewolves. Anyway, review or Lucius will come after you with his stolen Time-Turner!)**


	12. The Midnight Duel

**Two chapters in one day? Heck ya! We're just that awesome where I type this fast and Dndchk edits that quickly. (Dndchk: **_**I'm**_** just that awesome. Nah, I'm just kidding.)**

**Disclaimer- "I solemly swear I don't own anything." (Dndchk: Don't we all wish...)**

"**Mischief Managed"**

_Sirius raised his hand in the air, and the book floated over to him. _

"_**The Midnight Duel."**_

Harry's eyes got wide. He was going to be in so much trouble after this. Before his godfather or Remus could stop him, he went and sat in between George and Ginny. The two sent him a look that clearly said 'we'll talk later'.

**Harry had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley, but that was before he met Draco Malfoy.**

"Who doesn't?" Ron asked with a poker face. Draco glared at him.

**Still, first-year Gryffindors only had Potions with theSlytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much.**

**Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room that made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday**

"Dude, it's flying lessons! What's wrong with that!?" Wood snapped. Almost everyone jumped. He'd been so quiet during the reading they almost forgot about him.

— **and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.**

"Oh that explains it.." Wood said, much calmer than before.

"**Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."**

"It's the opposite Harry," Ron said, laughing.

**He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else.**

"**You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably.**

"You don't," almost all of the fifth year Gryffindors smiled. It was a pretty memorable day.

"**Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."**

"It is." The Quidditch team and Wood grinned. Lucius and Draco glared at them. Scorpius smiled down at the table.

**Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters.**

"Yeah right," Harry muttered.

**He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnigantold it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick.**

"I did!" Seamus said.

**Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom.**

"And when was that?" Mrs. Weasley fumed.

"Umm…"

"I was with him at all times mum, don't worry." Bill assured. Molly still looked mad, but nodded. Ron mouthed _thank_ _you_ to his brother.

**Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about soccer. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly.**

**Harry had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham soccer team, trying to make the players move.**

Everyone laughed as Ron's ears went pink. Dean rolled his eyes.

**Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one.**

"Good thing too."

**Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.**

**Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book**

"She tried," Lavender said.

— **not that she hadn't tried.**

**At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called **_**QuidditchThrough the Ages**_**.**

"That's a good book!" Wood protested.

"I never said it wasn't."

**Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.**

**Harry hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course. Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.**

"Of course," Harry said.

"Not like you've got anyone to get you things like that, Potter," snapped Malfoy. The Weasleys glared at him. After the reading they were all going to send him something, just to prove Malfoy wrong.

**A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.**

"**It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things — this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red — oh…" His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "… you've forgotten something…"**

"They're completely useless," Neville snapped at the book.

**Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.**

"Didn't you see the sign?" George started.

"Look, but do not touch-"

"Or Potter will make you pay!"

"Sorry guys, not this time," Harry sighed. The twins pouted.

**Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.**

"Of course you were hoping to fight him, he's a twit!" Ginny said angrily.

"**What's going on?"**

"**Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."**

**Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table.**

"**Just looking,"**

"Suuure... whatever you say, Malfoy."

**he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.**

"Sloped?" Malfoy sneered, glaring at Harry.

**At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry, Ron, and the otherGryffindors hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.**

"You don't go in there, do you?" Remus asked, a little scared.

"Uhh, you'll find out." Harry ushered Sirius to keep reading.

**The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.**

"They do!" Half the hall said. Dumbledore was now mentally planning to get new brooms, since those brooms had been used since before the Marauders were in school.

**Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, grey hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk.**

"**Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."**

**Harry glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles.**

"You got one of the decent ones," Wood said.

"Thank Merlin, or I'd be dead."

"W_hat?_" Remus and Sirius snapped.

"Uhh you'll see," Harry said, cringing.

"**Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"**

"**UP" everyone shouted.**

**Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did.**

"Took your father one try, too," Sirius said proudly.

**Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground,and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, thought Harry;**

"Interesting thought," Madam Hooch said.

**There was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground.**

**Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.**

"I told you!" Draco snapped at Lucius, who ignored him. "I told you you were showing me the wrong grip!"

"**Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two —"**

**But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.**

"Oh Neville…" Ginny said, patting her friend's shoulder. He smiled at her sheepishly.

"**Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle — twelve feet — twenty feet.**

**Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and —**

**WHAM — a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay face down on the grass in a heap.**

The Hall cringed.

"That's gotta hurt," a Hufflepuff mumbled.

"You have no idea."

"Hey, at least you didn't have to grow all your bones back," Harry said, trying to lighten Neville's mood. It seemed to work.

**His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.**

"Wonder where it went," Harry mused.

"We summoned it after the- ah- incident," McGonagall said.

"Oh."

**Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his.**

"**Broken wrist," Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, boy — it's all right, up you get."**

**She turned to the rest of the class.**

"**None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.'**

The Gryffindors and Slytherins who were there laughed darkly, knowing she was bluffing.

**Come on, dear."**

**Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.**

**No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter.**

The Hall glared at Malfoy.

"**Did you see his face, the great lump?"**

More people glared. Then Malfoy did something even he didn't expect.

"I'm sorry…" The whole hall was speechless. Draco Malfoy has apologized to two people he hated most of all in less then six hours, and there both Gryffindors, for Merlin's sake! Scorpius stared at his father, his jaw hanging open. What was going on? Did this mean his father was...changing?

**The other Slytherins joined in.**

"**Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Pavati Patil.**

"**Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl.**

"I was and I'm glad of it!" said Pavati.

"**Never thought **_**you'd **_**like fat little crybabies, Parvati."**

"**Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thingLongbottom's gran sent him."**

**The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.**

"**Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly.**

"You really do have the bravery and heart of a Gryffindor," Neville said quietly making Harry blush.

**Everyone stopped talking to watch.**

**Malfoy smiled nastily.**

"**I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find — how about — up a tree?"**

"You bloody-!"

"Ginny! Language!" Molly yelled.

"Well, it's true!"

"**Give it **_**here**_**!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off.**

**He hadn't been lying, he **_**could **_**fly well. Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potter!"**

**Harry grabbed his broom.**

"Harry. James. Potter!" Sirius growled. Usually he wouldn't have minded if Harry was sticking up for a friend, but he hasn't even been on a broom yet! How could he have been so stupid?

"_**No!" **_**shouted Hermione Granger. "Madam Hooch told us not to move — you'll get us all into trouble."**

"So good to know you were worried about my safety," Harry said. Hermione blushed.

**Harry ignored her. Blood was pounding in his ears. He mounted the broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared; air rushed through his hair, and his robes whipped out behind him — and in a rush of fierce joy he realized he'd found something he could do without being taught — this was easy, this was **_**wonderful**_**. He pulled his broomstick up a little to take it even higher, and heard screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron.**

First, second, and third years looked at him in admiration while the rest of the Gryffindors cheered.

**He turned his broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in mid-air. Malfoy looked stunned.**

"I had a right to be!" Malfoy snapped.

"**Give it here," Harry called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"**

"**Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer,**

"You didn't do it too well," Harry told Malfoy.

"You try getting threatened with being knocked off your broom and staying all brave," he sneered back.

"I have," Harry retorted boldly. Malfoy's cheeks pinked.

**But looking worried.**

**Harry knew, somehow, what to do.**

**He leaned forward and grasped the broom tightly in both hands, and it shot toward Malfoy like a javelin.**

**Malfoy only just got out of the way in time;**

"It was a shock enough to see you fly, Potter, but if I saw a student falling from the sky I might have had a heart attack," McGonagall said, making the Hall laugh.

**Harry made a sharp about-face and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping.**

"**No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called.**

**The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy.**

"Never has fought his own battles, never will," Ron muttered disgustedly.

"**Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back toward the ground.**

**Harry saw, as though in slow motion, the ball rise up in the air and then start to fall. He leaned forward and pointed his broom handle down — next second he was gathering speed in a steep dive, racing the ball**

The Marauders paled, then went from green to red in the space of a few seconds. Harry was going to be in so much trouble after this.

— **wind whistled in his ears, mingled with the screams of people watching — he stretched out his hand — a foot from the ground he caught it, just in time to pull his broom straight, and he toppled gently onto the grass with the Remembrall clutched safely in his fist.**

Harry swore he heard sighs of relief from the Marauders and felt a little less nervous.

"**HARRY POTTER!"**

**His heart sank faster than he'd just dived. Professor McGonagall was running toward them. He got to his feet, trembling.**

"_**Never **_**— in all my time at Hogwarts —"**

"Been so happy to see a kid break the rules." McGonagall finished. The Quidditch cup would have been theirs, until Harry saved the school from Voldemort.

**Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "— how **_**dare **_**you — might have broken your neck —"**

"As much as I'm proud of you, she's right you know," Sirius said seriously.

"**It wasn't his fault, Professor —"**

"**Be quiet, Miss Patil —"**

"**But Malfoy —"**

"**That's **_**enough**_**, Mr Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."**

"Thanks for trying, guys," he smiled at his best friend and fellow Griffindor.

"No problem," Parvati said.

"What are friends for?" Ron added.

**Harry caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle'striumphant faces as he left,**

"You're right- they should be triumphant, since it cost them every Quidditch match against Gryffindor since," Ron said sarcastically. The Slytherins looked angrily at their Beaters and Seeker.

**walking numbly in Professor McGonagall's wake as she strode toward the castle. He was going to be expelled, he just knew it.**

"Come on, you're Harry Potter, do you really think Dumbledore would let you get expelled?" Ron asked. Harry shrugged.

"We almost got expelled second year with the flying car."

"Well that was different."

"...Whatever you say, Ron. "

**He wanted to say something to defend himself, but there seemed to be something wrong with his voice. Professor McGonagall was sweeping along without even looking at him; he had to jog to keep up. Now he'd done it. He hadn't even lasted two weeks. He'd be packing his bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when he turned up on the doorstep?**

"Don't even mention those horrible Muggles," Sirius shuddered.

**Up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside, and still Professor McGonagall didn't say a word to him. She wrenched open doors and marched along corridors with Harry trotting miserably behind her. Maybe she was taking him to Dumbledore. He thought of Hagrid, expelled but allowed to stay on as gamekeeper. Perhaps he could be Hagrid's assistant. His stomach twisted as he imagined it, watching Ron and the others becoming wizards, while he stumped around the grounds carrying Hagrid's bag.**

Almost everyone rolled their eyes. Harry was so dramatic at times.

**Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom. She opened the door and poked her head inside.**

"**Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"**

**Wood? Thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on him?**

Everyone's mouths dropped open. Did he really think he was going to be beaten for flying a broom? Several heads turned to look at Harry, wondering if he really was telling the truth about his home life.

**But Wood turned out to be a person, a burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick's class looking confused.**

"**Follow me, you two," said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at Harry.**

"**In here."**

**Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom that was empty except for Peeves, who was busy writing rude words on the blackboard.**

"Fred," George accused. "Why did you teach him so many?"

"George, it was you!"

"Sirius!" Sirius cried, pointing at himself.

"Actually, it was James," Remus remarked.

"**Out, Peeves!" she barked. Peeves threw the chalk into a bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out cursing.**

**Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two boys.**

"**Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood — I've found you a Seeker."**

Gryffindors cheered, along with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs. Though they'd lost against Harry and the rest of them team, the Gryffindors had beaten the Slytherins in each match they'd played against them.

**Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight.**

"**Are you serious, Professor?"**

"Padfoot, don't or I'll jinx you to next Tuesday!" Remus threatened. Sirius shut his mouth at once.

"**Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?"**

"You did have a toy broomstick that flew a foot above the ground," Remus told Harry.

"Think you broke enough of Petunia's vases in two hours to please your mother and convince her to let you keep it," Sirius smirked. Harry's eyes filled with happiness that no one had seen in a long time.

**Harry nodded silently. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he didn't seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs.**

"**He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."**

"Sure I could've!" Charlie retorted.

"Maybe in your fourth or fifth year, Mr. Weasley, but I don't think first year." Charlie looked at his old professor skeptically.

"Want to bet?"

**Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.**

"**Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?"**

"Who hasn't?!" Some of the Quidditch freaks squealed. Harry sighed.

**he asked excitedly.**

"**Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained.**

"**He's just the build for a Seeker, too," said Wood, now walking around Harry and staring at him.**

"Sorry Oliver, but was that necessary? I was nervous enough."

"Sorry," Wood replied sheepishly.

**"Light —speedy — we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor — a Nimbus Two Thousand or a CleansweepSeven, I'd say."**

"**I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule.**

"Only for Potter," Malfoy sneered. Everyone glared at him, though some students privately agreed.

**Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year.**_**Flattened **_**in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks…"**

**Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Harry.**

"**I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you."**

**Then she suddenly smiled.**

"**Your father would have been proud," she said. "He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."**

"One of the best Chasers." McGonagall smiled along with the Marauders and Harry.

"**You're **_**joking**_**."**

**It was dinnertime. Harry had just finished telling Ron what had happened when he'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall. Ron had a piece of steak and kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it.**

The twins, Bill, Charlie, and Ginny all gasped.

"Ron forgetting about food?!"

"It's a miracle!"

"Shut up you two," Ron growled at the twins.

"_**Seeker**_**?" he said. "But first years **_**never **_**— you must be the youngest house player in about —"**

"— **a century," said Harry, shovelling pie into his mouth. He felt particularly hungry after the excitement of the afternoon. "Wood told me."**

"Only Wood," sighed his old teammates. Wood blushed furiously.

**Ron was so amazed, so impressed, he just sat and gaped at Harry.**

"**I start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."**

"This is Hogwarts, a secret really means that everyone knows," George said dismissively.

"Not always," Remus muttered to Sirius. Sirius grinned.

**Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Harry, and hurried over.**

"**Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too — Beaters."**

"**I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."**

"The last time any of us saw that was when our Seeker caught the Snitch right out from under the opposing Seeker's nose, back in my second year," Katie said, laughing. That was always a sight to see.

"**Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."**

"Didn't you have the Map then?" Harry asked.

"We thought maybe the Marauders forgot one," Fred said, shrugging. "Or maybe they didn't find it."

"Wait, what map?" McGonagall asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"You'll find out later," Harry sighed. _Wait_, he thought. _They'll find out later, they're going to find out about the map, the invisibility cloak, everything. Oh Merlin._

"**Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."**

**Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe andGoyle.**

"**Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"**

"**You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly.**

"Little? They're almost as big as two Dudleys combined!" Ron laughed. Harry snorted.

**There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.**

Which they did now.

"**I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only — no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"**

"Of course he hasn't, he was practically a muggleborn!" Hermione snapped. Sirius and Remus weren't liking the sound of a wizard's duel.

"**Of course he has," said Ron, wheeling around. "I'm his second, who's yours?"**

**Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up.**

"**Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."**

The Marauders looked at Harry.

"I'm going to be in so much trouble after all this, aren't I?" Harry asked. No one answered because they all knew what they would have said.

**When Malfoy had gone, Ron and Harry looked at each other.**

"**What is a wizard's duel?" said Harry. "And what do you mean, you're my second?"**

"**Well, a second's there to take over if you die," said Ron casually,**

"Casually! Really, Ron?" Hermione said. Ron flushed.

"I didn't want to make him nervous!" he said defensively.

**getting started at last on his cold pie. Catching the look on Harry's face, he added quickly, "But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. **I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."

"**And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"**

"**Throw it away and punch him on the nose," Ron suggested.**

"No contact, Weasel."

"Whatever, Ferrit."

"**Excuse me."**

**They both looked up. It was Hermione Granger.**

"**Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" said Ron.**

"Sorry," Ron muttered.

"Stop apologizing, Ron!" Hermione said in exasperation. "It happened years ago, so stop feeling bad about it!"

**Hermione ignored him and spoke to Harry.**

"**I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying —"**

"**Bet you could," Ron muttered.**

"— **and you **_**mustn't **_**go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."**

"And look who goes wandering the school nearly once a week!" Ron laughed. The adults and teachers looked at them.

"What?" they all asked.

"Nothing!" the trio yelled. Nobody believed them.

"**And it's really none of your business," said Harry.**

"**Good-bye," said Ron.**

"That was quite rude, you guys," Ginny said. The boys ignored her, but couldn't ignore the guilty feelings in their stomachs.

**All the same, it wasn't what you'd call the perfect end to the day, Harry thought, as he lay awake much later listening to Dean and Seamus falling asleep (Neville wasn't back from the hospital wing). Ron had spent all evening giving him advice such as "If he tries to curse you, you'd better dodge it, because I can't remember how to block them."**

"_Protego!"_ most of the older students and DA yelled. Harry shot his DA members proud looks.

**There was a very good chance they were going to get caught by Filch or Mrs Norris**

"Didn't you have the cloak?" Sirius asked. Harry shook his head.

"I didn't get it until Christmas that year."

"What cloak?" several people and teachers asked. Harry wanted to use a silencing charm on Sirius.

**and Harry felt he was pushing his luck, breaking another school rule today. On the other hand, Malfoy's sneering face kept looming up out of the darkness — this was his big chance to beat Malfoy face-to-face. He couldn't miss it.**

"**Half-past eleven," Ron muttered at last, "we'd better go."**

"Just wait, he won't show up." Remus said, shaking his head.

"Just our luck," the trio laughed.

**They pulled on their bathrobes, picked up their wands, and crept across the tower room, down the spiral staircase, and into the Gryffindor common room. A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace, turning all the armchairs into hunched black shadows. They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them, "I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry."**

"Like James- he never turns down a good fight," Sirius said, looking disapprovingly at his godson.

**A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown.**

"_**You!**_**" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"**

"**I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy — he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."**

"Be glad you didn't, we needed you then," Ron said.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"You're the one who unlocked the door to Fluffy and saved us from Filch, then you saw the trapdoor."

"Wait, what?" the adults asked. The teachers looked shocked.

**Harry couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering.**

"**Come on," he said to Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole.**

**Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily. She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose.**

"More like a parrot?" Hermione suggested.

"Nope, definitely a goose," Harry joked.

"**Don't you **_**care **_**about Gryffindor, do you **_**only **_**care about yourselves, **_**I **_**don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."**

"So that's where all those points came from that week!" Alicia smiled fondly at the younger Gryffindor.

"And they were lost by none other than us!" Fred and George said proudly.

"**Go away."**

"**All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so —"**

"So what? So dead? So going to get an 'I told you so'?" Cho asked. Hermione shrugged.

"I don't remember."

**But what they were, they didn't find out. Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a night time visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor tower.**

"She always takes those at the worse times." Bill said. The other Gryffindors nodded knowingly.

"**Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly.**

"**That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go, we're going to be late."**

**They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with them.**

"**I'm coming with you," she said.**

"**You are **_**not**_**."**

"Glad you did."

"**D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up."**

"You're so stubborn, Hermione, you know that?" Harry said.

"You should see me at home."

"**You've got some nerve —" said Ron loudly.**

"You're so loud you know that Ron?"

"Whatever," Ron said.

"**Shut up, both of you!" said Harry sharply. "I heard something."**

**It was a sort of snuffling.**

"**Mrs Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark.**

**It wasn't Mrs Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep, but jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer.**

"What on earth were you doing out there?" McGonagall asked. Neville grimaced.

"You'll see."

"**Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here forhours, I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."**

"What's new there?" Seamus asked. Neville looked at the table guiltily. He almost got Ron and Harry killed for writing all the passwords down that one time. But then, Sirius Black was innocent... But if he hadn't been, who knows what could have happened?

"**Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere."**

"**How's your arm?" said Harry.**

"**Fine," said Neville, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."**

"Lucky…" Harry sighed. He always had to heal the most painful way possible. He had no way of knowing that Remus was thinking the same thing.

"**Good — well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later —"**

"**Don't leave me!" said Neville, scrambling to his feet, "I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."**

**Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and Neville.**

"**If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you."**

Ginny smirked, since everyone knew that that was her best curse.

**Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, but Harry hissed at her to be quiet and beckoned them all forward.**

**They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn Harry expected to run into Filch or Mrs Norris, but they were lucky.**

"There's a shocker," Fred said, raising an eyebrow.

**They sped up a staircase to the third floor and tiptoed toward the trophy room.**

**Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet.**

"Because they were too much of wimps to show up," Ron stated. The two in question glared at the redheaded Gryffindor.

**The crystal trophy cases glimmered where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates, and statues winked silver and gold in the darkness. They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. Harry took out his wand in case Malfoy leapt in and started at once. The minutes crept by.**

"**He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.**

**Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Harry had only just raised his wand when they heard someone speak — and it wasn't Malfoy.**

"**Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."**

"He sold you out!" screeched the Gryffindor table. The four nodded casually. Several glares were directed at Malfoy, who looked away.

**It was Filch speaking to Mrs Norris. Horror-struck, Harry waved madly at the other three to follow him as quickly as possible; they scurried silently toward the door,**

"You're always the one to take charge in bad or dangerous situations, aren't you Harry?" Dean asked.

"Not al-"

"Yes, he is," Hermione, the Weasleys, the Marauders, and the rest of the DA answered.

**away from Filch's voice. Neville's robes had barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room.**

"**They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."**

Everyone glared at Malfoy.

"**This way!" Harry mouthed to the others and, petrified, they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits ofarmour. They could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist, and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armour.**

"At the time, I wouldn't have been surprised if you woke the whole castle doing that."

**The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.**

"**RUN!" Harry yelled, and the four of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following — they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harry in the lead, without any idea where they were or where they were going — they ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room.**

"**I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.**

"**I —**_**told **_**— you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I — told — you."**

"Couldn't I have done my 'I told you so' speech later?" Hermione asked herself.

"**We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."**

"**Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Harry. "You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you**

"Because he's too chicken too show up," Ron said. Malfoy was about to reply when Harry interrupted.

"Don't deny it, Malfoy, we all know it's true."

— **Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off."**

**Harry thought she was probably right, but he wasn't going to tell her that.**

"**Let's go."**

**It wasn't going to be that simple. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them.**

**It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight.**

"Peeves," The Hall growled darkly.

"**Shut up, Peeves — please — you'll get us thrown out."**

**Peeves cackled.**

"**Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."**

"**Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please."**

"**Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."**

"**Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves**

"Ron!" His brothers and the Marauders protested.

**This was a big mistake.**

"**STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"**

**Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door — and it was locked.**

"And for a good reason," McGonagall said looking at her Gryffindors.

"**This is it!" Ron moaned, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!"**

**They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves's shouts.**

"**Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, "**_**Alohomora**_**!"**

**The lock clicked and the door swung open — they piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening.**

McGonagall looked accusingly at Dumbledore. "It was too easy."

Dumbledore didn't reply, save for a sigh.

"**Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me."**

"**Say 'please.'"**

"Thank God for Peeves and his stubbornness," sighed the four friends.

"**Don't mess with me, Peeves, now **_**where did they go**_**?"**

"**Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying singsong voice.**

"Thank you, Peeves!" Harry said. Several people laughed.

"**All right —**_**please**_**."**

"**NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.**

"**He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered. "I think we'll be okay — get **_**off**_**, Neville!"**

**For Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Harry's bathrobe for the last minute. "**_**What**_**?"**

**Harry turned around — and saw, quite clearly, what. For a moment, he was sure he'd walked into a nightmare — this was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far.**

"Time to meet Fluffy," Harry said, his face suddenly drained of color. Sirius and Remus looked at him, concerned. This Fluffy character didn't sound like the nicest thing out there, especially if it scared Harry.

**They weren't in a room, as he had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden.**

"It couldn't be that bad... could it?" Seamus asked.

"Oh it's worse that that," Neville said, shuddering.

**They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.**

The adults went paler then the trio and Neville. Why was there a three headed dog in Hogwarts? Could it be protecting whatever Hagrid picked up from Gringotts?

**It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Harry knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant.**

The twins actually looked scared.

"Could you guys do us a favor?" one of them said.

"And get your bloody arses out of there!" the other one yelled. Instead of yelling at the twins for their language, the Weasleys all nodded in agreement.

**Harry groped for the doorknob — between Filch and death, he'd take Filch.**

**They fell backward — Harry slammed the door shut, and they ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else, because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared — all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster.**

"Please tell us you don't go near that thing again?" Remus asked, rubbing his temples.

"Uhh I didn't go near it again?" Harry asked.

"Harry Potter, you're worse then your father," Sirius said rubbing the back of his neck. "And don't think you're getting out of this one, young man!" Harry paled again.

**They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.**

"**Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.**

"Oh we were just going to duel some Slytherins but got sold out to Filch so we went and hid in the forbidden corridor and almost got eaten by a three headed dog which we find out later is named Fluffy," Ron told the book casually. Harry, Hermione, and Neville burst into nervous giggles.

"**Never mind that — pig snout, pig snout," panted Harry, and the portrait swung forward. They scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling, into armchairs.**

**It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, looked as if he'd never speak again.**

"**What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?"**

"To keep something safe, but I've got to say, it didn't do a very good job of that." The adults looked at Harry, shocked at the casual tone he was using.

**said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."**

"Really Ron? Would you rather it be running around on the grounds or in the Forbidden Forest?"

"Yeah Gin, I would."

**Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again.**

"**You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"**

"**The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."**

"**No, **_**not **_**the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."**

"HERMIONE!" the Gryffindors and Marauders protested, knowing that this was what had to have piqued Harry's curiosity. Hermione and Harry blushed.

**She stood up, glaring at them.**

"**I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed — or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."**

"I really needed to sort out my prioritys back then," Hermione said, and many people nodded.

**Ron stared after her, his mouth open.**

"**No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you."**

**But Hermione had given Harry something else to think about as he climbed back into bed.**

Everyone groaned.

**The dog was guarding something… What had Hagrid said? Gringotts was the safest place in the world for something you wanted to hide — except perhaps Hogwarts.**

"Oh man, this is bad! Once Harry figures out whatever that thing is, he's going to go after it to protect himself!" Lee shouted. Harry winced and smiled. His classmates knew him too well.

**It looked as though Harry had found out where the grubby little package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was.**

"That's it, who wants to read next?" Sirius said.

"What's the name of the chapter?" Hermione asked.

"Uhh, Halloween."

"I WANT TO!" she squealed and snached the book from Sirius hand. Seamus started putting the pieces together.

"This is it, this is when you guys finally become friends?" the trio nodded. The teachers, though, looked scared half to death. This was the part with the troll.

"**Halloween,"**

**Woop! Two chapters in one night! I'm so proud of myself. I've decided something while typing this, the big fiftieth review prize will be after this book (which I'm hoping to finish by the end of the month). Yeah I know it's a while away but it fits this way. (Dndchk: Awww maaan!) I'll tell you what it is though, it's kind of a parody chapter of Harry's dreams. That's all I'm tellin. ;) (Dndchk: *speculating*)**

**Next chapter, 3 more characters come in. Who do you think it is?**

**Lastly, sorry about not much Next gen in this chappy- they'll be in the next, I promise.**

**(Dndchk: I hope so!)**

**Well it's kind 2:30 a.m. when I'm typing this so I'm going to bed! Night and R&R!**

**(You heard theblonde! Review or... Or the Marauders will set Peeves in you! Or something. See you!)**

Also this last reviewer asked if the kids memories would be flash forwards because I think I have been calling them flashbacks. Let me explain, the reasons I'm calling them flashbacks is because though those parts are in a 3rd person POV I try to put it more into their perspective, hense making them flashbacks. Hope this makes sense.


	13. 100 Reviews Sneak Peak

First off, thank you for getting me to 100 reviews! You have no clue how much your feedback means to me! I was going to put the sneak peak at the end of the next chapter but I couldn't wait, so with no further ado, here's a sneak peak of a very wanted scene in the future. **ALSO THERE IS A POLL UP ON WHICH CHARACTER I SHOULD BRING IN PLEASE VOTE AND YOU'LL GET A FREE CHOCOLATE FROG!**

* * *

The great hall doors flew open once more, making every witch and wizard in the room pull out their wands. A girl maybe about fourteen stood with her wand also out.

"Fred I found everyone!" Roxanne Weasley called. The next generation kids froze with utter terror and shock. Fred and Roxanne Weasley have come into the past.

"Rox do you know where Albus and everyone is?" Everyone looked up at the headmaster confused.

"He's over there sitting next to James, Rose, Scorpius and Teddy!" She pointed over to her cousins and friends. The hall went silent for a moment before Harry finally spoke up.

"What are you talking about that's Anthony, David, Kate, Ryan, and Tyler?" The two teenagers looked at Harry shocked.

"Uncle Harry?" Harry sighed, he tried.

"_Uncle?!" _ the hall roared. Umbridge stood up.

"You kids better tell us who you really are and what's going on or I'll have to ask you to leave." James looked at his family, who all nodded. He sighed and stood up.

"We have something to say, we aren't who you think we are, we're not friends of Dumbledore, or live anywhere near Ireland." He took a deep breath, making the hall sit at the edge of their seats. "My name is James Sirius Potter and this is my brother Albus Severus Potter, these are our cousins Rose, Roxanne, and Fred Weasley, and our friends Teddy Remus Lupin and Scorpius Malfoy, and we're from the future."


	14. Halloween

**An: Well, I was going to do a very creative and deep authors note but now I'm too guilty so here it is. **

**I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SOOO SORRY! I DID NOT MEAN TO PUT OFF THE CHAPTER FOR THIS LONG PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I'LL EVEN GIVE YOU A FEW EXCUSES.**

**1:Didn't have internet for a week.**

**2: Been babysitting most of the month.**

**3:I haven't had the energy to write because of feeling kind of upset about everything that's happened lately (I'm better now!)**

**4: (the last and lamest of them all) I've been watching a lot of Glee, Supernatural, and an old show called Code Lyoko!**

**Please forgive me!**

**But sorry this is also the last update of the month or well, until the middle of September, my schedule is crazy lately. If you get bored I got a ton of good HP stories saved in my favorites you can read, but just be patent with me.**

**Thank you Dndchk for her patience and editing. (You're welcome.)**

**Don't own crap so don't give me any. (Dndchk here- I just want to say that I don't edit the flashback parts in italics, or the book parts in bold, unless I spot a really big mistake, so please don't hate me :/**

"_That's it, who wants to read next?" Sirius said._

"_What's the name of the chapter?" Hermione asked._

"_Uhh, Halloween."_

"_I WANT TO!" she squealed and snatched the book from Sirius hand. Seamus started putting the pieces together._

"_This is it, this is when you guys finally become friends?" the trio nodded. The teachers, though, looked scared half to death. This was the part with the troll._

"**Halloween."**

**Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harry and Ron were still at Hogwarts the next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful.**

**Indeed, by the next morning Harry and Ron thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure, and they were quite keen to have another one.**

"It doesn't take long to find one when you're friends with Harry," Ron smirked. Harry shrugged.

**In the meantime, Harry filled Ron in about the package that seemed to have been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, and they spent a lot of time wondering what could possibly need such heavy protection.**

"I've been wondering that too!" a Ravenclaw shouted.

**Neither Neville nor Hermione showed the slightest interest in what lay underneath the dog and the trapdoor. All Neville cared about was never going near the dog again.**

"Who bloody would want to?" Neville scoffed. The trio fidgeted in their seats. Rose rolled her eyes at her uncle's and parents' behavior; all the Weasleys and Potters were like that.

**Hermione was now refusing to speak to Harry and Ron, but she was such a bossy know-it-all that they saw this as an added bonus.**

"You guys really hated her back than didn't you?" Remus asked, more than a little shocked. The three of them nodded.

"We couldn't be within fifty feet of each other before starting a fight," Hermione said.

"Just you wait- one of you two boys will end up marrying Hermione! Because James and Lily were the same way, but until seventh year!" Sirius said. Rose, James, and Al choked back their laughter at their parents' faces.

**All they really wanted now was a way of getting back at Malfoy, and to their great delight, just such a thing arrived in the mail about a week later.**

The people who knew what it was gave Harry jealous looks. Except, of course, the Slytherins, who had better brooms than the Nimbus 2000. Harry was unaffected by the looks- he had a Firebolt now, after all. A Firebolt...that was locked up... He sighed.

**As the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught at once by a long, thin package carried by six large screech owls.**

"It's not every day you get a broom in the post," Fred and George laughed, also looking jealously at the Boy who Lived.

**Harry was just as interested as everyone else to see what was in this large parcel, and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it right in front of him, knocking his bacon to the floor.**

"What a waste of bacon…" James grumbled.

**They had hardly fluttered out of the way when another owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel.**

**Harry ripped open the letter first, which was lucky, because it said:**

_**DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE.**_

"Well, it's not like it was obvious at all what it was!" Malfoy growled.

_**It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one.**_

_**Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session.**_

_**Professor McGonagall**_

**Harry had difficulty hiding his glee as he handed the note to Ron to read.**

"**A Nimbus Two Thousand!" Ron moaned enviously. "I've never even **_**touched **_**one."**

"I have now, ridden one too!" he said gleefully.

"You've also ridden a Firebolt," Harry added making everyone who flew look enviously at the two.

"That's nothing," Albus whispered to Scorpius, "We've ridden the Firebolt 400." Scorp snorted.

**They left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first class, but halfway across the entrance hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy seized the package from Harry and felt it.**

"How'd it feel?" The twins smirked, waggling their eyebrows.

"Weasleys! Five points from Gryffindor each!" The table groaned and glared at them.

"**That's a broomstick," he said, throwing it back to Harry with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face.**

"I wasn't jealous!" Draco retorted.

"Yeah, you were," Most fifth year and up Slytherins and Gryffindors said.

"**You'll be in for it this time, Potter, first years aren't allowed them."**

"Since when have I followed the rules?" Harry asked innocently.

**Ron couldn't resist it.**

"Of course he couldn't," Molly and Ginny sighed.

"**It's not any old broomstick," he said, "It's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?" Ron grinned at Harry. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."**

"**What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn't afford half the handle," Malfoy snapped back. "I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."**

Every Weasley (including Percy) looked like they were going to murder the younger Malfoy from this Generation. However, before they could do anything, the tension broke as the Great Hall doors flew open. Four different people entered, Mad-Eye-Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Amelia Bones. Dumbledore stood to welcome the Hall's new guests.

"Ahh, welcome Alastor, Kingsley, Madam Bones, and Miss Tonks. Why don't you take a seat by our guests over there?" Dumbledore pointed in the direction of the next generation kids. Teddy's face was mixed with shock, sadness, and excitement when he realized he'd finally get to meet his mother.

Tonks waved at the Weasleys, Sirius, Remus, Harry, and Hermione on the way to her seat and nearly tripped over her own feet, making some people chuckle. As she and the other three sat down she could have sworn she was facing two other Potters, a Weasley, and a Malfoy.

"Sorry we're late, Dumbledore," Kingsley said in his deep bass voice. "We only just got the owl."

"Of course, Kingsley, it's no problem," Dumbledore said cheerfully. Umbridge looked scandalized that her co-workers knew Dumbledore with such familiarity.

"Hey, I'm Tonks and this is Moody, Kingsley, and Madam Bones, we're from the Ministry." she said politely. Both she and Mad-Eye were watching the group of kids suspiciously. James swallowed hard and spoke.

"Hi, umm, I'm Anthony and this is David, Kate, Ryan, and Tyler." The four adults nodded their acknowledgment. Tonks once again looked over at Teddy. Something about him reminded her of herself and someone she knew, and it was starting to creep her out a bit, especially since he wouldn't stop staring at her. She shook it off and looked up at her old headmaster.

"So, Professor, what's happened so far?" Dumbledore then explained everything that had happened, adding in the fact that Sirius was innocent and needed a fair trial, which Amelia noted, and that Harry had just gotten the Nimbus 2000.

After taking a moment to let the new information soak in, the four nodded to Hermione to continue reading.

**Before Ron could answer, Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoy's elbow.**

McGonagall, Arthur, and Molly sighed with relief.

"**Not arguing, I hope, boys?" he squeaked.**

"**Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," said Malfoy quickly.**

"It's not like everyone doesn't know that Malfoy." Laughed Ron darkly.

**Yes, yes, that's right," said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Harry. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter.**

**And what model is it?"**

A few people snickered at the thought of Mafloy's face. Lucius, though, looked less than pleased at the teacher's favoritism.

"**A Nimbus Two Thousand, it is," said Harry, fighting not to laugh at the look of horror on Malfoy's face. "And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it," he added.**

The Gryffindors cheered while every Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw glared at the pale Slytherin. He was the reason they'd all lost almost every match against Gryffindor the last five years; only the matches where he had been unconcious first year and attacked by dementors third year had a different team won.

Malfoy slid down in his seat.

**Harry and Ron headed upstairs, smothering their laughter at Malfoy's obvious rage and confusion.**

"**Well, it's true," Harry chortled as they reached the top of the marble staircase, "If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be on the team…"**

This time some of the people made a low growl.

"**So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?"came an angry voice from just behind them. Hermione was stomping up the stairs, looking disapprovingly at the package in Harry's hand.**

"Actually... I think I was just jealous at that point," Hermione interrupted herself.

"**I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Harry.**

"**Yes, don't stop now," said Ron, "it's doing us so much good."**

**Hermione marched away with her nose in the air.**

"You make me sound like a stuck up snob!" Hermione glared at her two best friends. Ron hid behind the twins and Harry behind the Marauders. A few people laughed uneasily. Was Hermione really that scary when she was mad?

**Harry had a lot of trouble keeping his mind on his lessons that day.**

"After everything that's happened so far, who wouldn't?" Ginny asked.

**It kept wandering up to the dormitory where his new broomstick was lying under his bed, or straying off to the Quidditch field where he'd be learning to play that night.**

**He bolted his dinner that evening without noticing what he was eating, and then rushed upstairs with Ron to unwrap the Nimbus Two Thousand at last.**

"**Wow," Ron sighed, as the broomstick rolled onto Harry's bedspread.**

"It still had the new broom smell," Ron sighed, getting plenty of weird looks.

**Even Harry, who knew nothing about the different brooms, thought it looked wonderful. Sleek and shiny, with a mahogany handle, it had a long tail of neat, straight twigs and Nimbus Two Thousand written in gold near the top.**

Harry swore he saw Wood drooling over the description. He hid a grin at the thought of what the incident in third year over the Firebolt would be like.

**As seven o'clock drew nearer, Harry left the castle and set off in the dusk toward the Quidditch field. He'd never been inside the stadium before. Hundreds of seats were raised in stands around the field so that the spectators were high enough to see what was going on. At either end of the field were three golden poles with hoops on the end. They reminded Harry of the little plastic sticks Muggle children blew bubbles through, except that they were fifty feet high.**

"That's what I thought the first time."

**Too eager to fly again to wait for Wood, Harry mounted his broomstick and kicked off from the ground. What a feeling — he swooped in and out of the goal posts and then sped up and down the field. The Nimbus Two Thousand turned wherever he wanted at his lightest touch.**

"**Hey, Potter, come down!"**

**Oliver Wood had arrived. He was carrying a large wooden crate under his arm. Harry landed next to him.**

"**Very nice," said Wood, his eyes glinting. "I see what McGonagall meant… you really are a natural.**

**I'm just going to teach you the rules this evening, then you'll be joining team practice three times a week."**

All the Gryffindor Quidditch players who were coached by both Wood and Angelina sighed.

"The good old days," Fred said nostalgically. "Back when practices were reasonable."

"What did you say?" Angelina snapped.

"Nothing."

**He opened the crate. Inside were four different-sized balls.**

"**Right," said Wood. "Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers."**

"The best position in my opinion," Alicia said. The other Gryffindor Chasers nodded while the boys rolled their eyes.

"**Three Chasers," Harry repeated, as Wood took out a bright red ball about the size of a football.**

"**This ball's called the Quaffle," said Wood. "The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time theQuaffle goes through one of the hoops. Follow me?"**

"He's explaining it much better then Hagrid did," Remus said. Wood beamed at him.

"**The Chasers throw the Quaffle and put it through the hoops to score," Harry recited. "So — that's sort of like basketball on broomsticks with six hoops, isn't it?"**

"What's basketball?" Crabbe asked. Nearly everyone laughed.

"It's exactly what it sounds like; you throw a ball into a basket." Pansy explained. The half bloods and muggle borns tried their best to choke back their laughter.

"Actually, basketball is a muggle sport like Quidditch but there's only one ball and it's less violent," Albus explained. Having a muggle loving grandfather and a father raised by muggles sure came in handy sometimes.

"**What's basketball?" said Wood curiously.**

"**Never mind," said Harry quickly.**

"**Now, there's another player on each side who's called the Keeper — I'm Keeper for Gryffindor.**

"Was." The twins corrected.

"WEASLEY IS OUR KING," The Slytherin's started to sing, and the Gryffindors all glared at them.

"Isn't it you guys who lost the first match against us?" Harry asked snidely.

"Isn't it you who got kicked off the Quidditch team along with the Weasel twins for fighting?" Pansy sneered back. Remus, Sirius, Molly, Arthur, Bill, and Charlie looked at the three of them in shock.

"Well, isn't it your boyfriend who got the snot beat out of him?"Ginny growled.

"Shut it you filthy blood traitor!"

"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore shouted, finally losing his temper. "Miss. Granger, why don't you continue reading?" Dumbledore asked, calmer than before. Hermione nodded as the Weasleys, Marauders, and Harry glared at the Slytherin house.

**I have to fly around our hoops and stop the other team from scoring."**

"**Three Chasers, one Keeper," said Harry, who was determined to remember it all. "And they play with theQuaffle. Okay, got that. So what are they for?" He pointed at the three balls left inside the box.**

"**I'll show you now," said Wood. "Take this."**

**He handed Harry a small club, a bit like a short baseball bat.**

"**I'm going to show you what the Bludgers do," Wood said. "These two are the Bludgers."**

"Did you really trust Harry to hit a Bludger?" George asked.

"That's suicidal! We couldn't even hit one our first time!" added Fred.

Wood shrugged. "Harry's different then you two." The twins took offense and turned back to the book without another word.

**He showed Harry two identical balls, jet black and slightly smaller than the red Quaffle. Harry noticed that they seemed to be straining to escape the straps holding them inside the box.**

"**Stand back," Wood warned Harry. He bent down and freed one of the Bludgers.**

**At once, the black ball rose high in the air and then pelted straight at Harry's face.**

"I really hate Bludgers- I'd be dead because of one if it wasn't for Hermione here," Harry said.

"Wait what?" Sirius asked, not wanting to believe his ears.

"You'll find out later."

"Really starting to get sick of hearing that," Remus mumbled.

**Harry swung at it with the bat to stop it from breaking his nose, and sent it zigzagging away into the air — it zoomed around their heads and then shot at Wood, who dived on top of it and managed to pin it to the ground.**

"Good for a Keeper." Fred mumbled as George nodded.

"**See?" Wood panted, forcing the struggling Bludger back into the crate and strapping it down safely. "The Bludgersrocket around, trying to knock players off their brooms.**

"Or target a certain Seeker for a whole match," Ron growled, though he remembered it was to 'save Harry's life.'

Remus and Sirius exchanged startled looks.

**That's why you have two Beaters on each team — the Weasley twins are ours**

The twins cheered, back into their normal mood.

— **it's their job to protect their side from the Bludgers and try and knock them toward the other team.**

"Or anyone who gets on our nerves." The twins said together, making some people laugh.

**So — think you've got all that?"**

"**Three Chasers try and score with the Quaffle; the Keeper guards the goal posts; the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team," Harry reeled off.**

"**Very good," said Wood.**

"You sound like a professor," Dean laughed. Wood merely shrugged.

"**Er — have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?"**

"I think nearly everyone who's played Quidditch has asked that, even the ones who've been playing for years," McGonagall laughed.

**Harry asked, hoping he sounded offhand.**

"**Never at Hogwarts. We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worse than that.**

**Now, the last member of the team is the Seeker. That's you.**

"The best- nearly better then Charlie," Wood commented.

"Hey!"

**And you don't have to worry about the Quaffle or theBludgers —"**

"— **unless they crack my head open."**

"Oh, they've tried."

"**Don't worry, the Weasleys are more than a match for theBludgers — I mean, they're like a pair of human Bludgersthemselves."**

"They are," every Gryffindor said fondly. The twins grinned at their admiration.

**Wood reached into the crate and took out the fourth and last ball. Compared with the Quaffle and the Bludgers, it was tiny, about the size of a large walnut. It was bright gold and had little fluttering silver wings.**

"My favorite," Harry and Draco said simultaneously. They didn't even bother to glare at each other, though they did scowl at the table.

"_**This**_**," said Wood, "is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see. It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win.**

"Bulgaria didn't win," Seamus said happily. Hermione wondered vaguely what she would have said if she'd found out at the World Cup that she'd wind up going to the Yule Ball with Krum.

**That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages — I think the record is three months, they had to keep bringing on substitutes so the players could get some sleep.**

"I was there- it was quite a game," Dumbledore smiled. He truly loved Quidditch as much as the kids did.

"**Well, that's it. Any questions?"**

The twins raised their hand looking like determined seven year olds with the right math answer. Hermione ignored them.

**Harry shook his head. He understood what he had to do allright, it was doing it that was going to be the problem.**

"**We won't practice with the Snitch yet," said Wood, carefully shutting it back inside the crate, "it's too dark, we might lose it. Let's try you out with a few of these."**

**He pulled a bag of ordinary golf balls out of his pocket and a few minutes later, he and Harry were up in the air, Wood throwing the golf balls as hard as he could in every direction for Harry to catch.**

**Harry didn't miss a single one, and Wood was delighted.**

"Okay, even I missed one or two of those," Charlie said, trying to seem shocked.

"No you didn't," all the Weasleys said.

"Who says I didn't?"

"You did," Fred said.

"Almost every single day of summer," George added.

"Oh." Charlie grinned sheepishly. Had he really been that full of himself?

**After half an hour, night had really fallen and they couldn't carry on.**

"**That Quidditch Cup'll have our name on it this year,"**

"Sorry, Wood, not until my third year."

**said Wood happily as they trudged back up to the castle. "I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could have played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons."**

"I never regretted it either," Charlie said. Molly gave him the 'concerned mother' look.

**Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice three evenings a week on top of all his homework, but Harry could hardly believe it when he realized that he'd already been at Hogwarts two months. The castle felt more like home than Privet Drive ever had.**

"Because it is my home," Harry said. Sirius sighed inwardly.

**On Halloween morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly,**

"That was a _very_ helpful spell in our years at Hogwarts." Sirius smiled deviously. Some of the teachers shuddered, remembering the first year pumpkin incident.

**something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom.**

Everyone laughed.

**Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Harry's partner was Seamus Finnigan (which was a relief, because Neville had been trying to catch his eye).**

"Sorry!" Harry shrieked.

"Don't worry, I don't blame you." Neville answered back. The DA looked guiltily at him ,knowing of his lack of confidence.

**Ron, however, was to be working with Hermione Granger. It was hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this.**

"I was!" they said at the same time. Rose snickered. Things didn't seem to have changed much.

**She hadn't spoken to either of them since the day Harry's broomstick had arrived.**

"**Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too — never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's'instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."**

"You've been scaring students with that story for over twenty years, does it ever get old?" Molly asked.

"No, and it works perfectly!" Flitwick answered cheerfully.

**It was very difficult. Harry and Seamus swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed to be sending skyward just lay on the desktop. Seamus got so impatient that he prodded it with his wand and set fire to it-**

"If it isn't something exploding, it's setting something on fire," Dean sighed.

Seamus grinned.

**Harry had to put it out with his hat.**

"Wow, the hat actually came in handy somehow," someone called out.

**Ron, at the next table, wasn't having much more luck.**

"_**Wingardium Leviosa!**_**" he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.**

"Ron?" Ginny asked sweetly.

"Yeah?"

"Really? Did you really make that big of a fool out of yourself?" Ron blushed.

"Yeah."

"You really are my brother?" she mumbled. Truthfully, she was worse her first time.

"**You're saying it wrong," Harry heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-**_**gar**_**-dium Levi-**_**o**_**-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."**

"**You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.**

"Hermione always loves a good challenge," Seamus laughed.

**Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, and said, "**_**Wingardium Leviosa!**_**"**

**Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.**

Flitwick looked happily at his star student. Very few of his students got it on the first time.

"**Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"**

**Ron was in a very bad mood by the end of the class.**

"Leads to disaster, like always." The twins said knowingly.

"**It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly."**

"Ron!" All the Gryffindors and DA members shouted.

"Sorry..." he said.

"No need to apologize," Hermione said, waving him off. It had been years ago, and knew Ron wouldn't say that now.

**Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face — and was startled to see that she was in tears.**

"And here's where all hell breaks loose." James mumbled to the group of people he was sitting with. The adults (minus Teddy) looked at him, confused.

"**I think she heard you."**

"**So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."**

"Okay, how the bloody hell did you guys become the unbreakable 'Golden Trio'?" Draco asked, scowling. The trio smirked.

"You'll see," they said simultaneously.

**Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Harry and Ron overheard Pavati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone.**

"Who wouldn't want to be?" Lavender asked.

**Ron looked still more awkward at this, but a moment later they had entered the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put Hermione out of their minds.**

"That doesn't last long," Ron said.

"Should I be worried?" Molly asked her son, who shrugged.

"Maybe a little?"

Molly groaned.

**A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet.**

**Harry was just helping himself to a baked potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll — in the dungeons — thought you ought to know."**

"I really wonder who let it out or where it even came from," Harry said sarcastically. Many people gave him curious looks.

**He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.**

**There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.**

"**Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"**

"Not everyone listens to the Prefects," smirked the twins.

"Oh, Merlin, what did you guys do?" Molly asked, very scared now.

"Well it isn't what we did-"

"It's what _they_ did." The brothers pointed at their other brother and his friends, who sat wondering how the hell they knew about what happened.

**Percy was in his element.**

The Weasley kids glared at Percy, who shrugged uncomfortably.

"**Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! **Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"

"More like a prick then a Prefect," muttered Ginny so only her brothers could hear.

"**How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs.**

"Someone under another someone's control let it in," Harry muttered.

"**Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," said Ron. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."**

**They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm.**

"**I've just thought — Hermione."**

"**What about her?"**

"Oh my god, HERMIONE!" many girls screeched. Hermione blushed and held back laughter.

"**She doesn't know about the troll."**

**Ron bit his lip.**

"**Oh, all right," he snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."**

"Harry. James. Potter. Please tell me you didn't run into that troll," Sirius said deliberately.

"Uhh," Harry looked nervously at his godfather.

"We'll talk later," Remus said sternly.

"I'll just add that to the list of my 'we'll talk laters'," Harry said. Remus suppressed a sigh.

**Ducking down, they joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor, and hurried off toward the girls' bathroom. They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.**

"**Percy!" hissed Ron, pulling Harry behind a large stone griffin.**

**Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.**

"**What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"**

"Saving a whole lot more problems for me," Harry said under his breath.

"**Search me."**

**Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor afterSnape's fading footsteps.**

"**He's heading for the third floor," Harry said,**

Everyone looked at the Potions Master curiously.

**But Ron held up his hand.**

"**Can you smell something?"**

"You?" the twins asked. The Slytherins chuckled. "Because you smell delightful compared to the snakes over there," they added to please the three other houses. Several people laughed.

**Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean.**

"Are you trying to make me lose my lunch?" Someone from the Hufflepuffs asked.

**And then they heard it — a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet.**

Almost everyone tensed. The troll was coming.

**Ron pointed — at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving toward them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.**

Remus flinched slightly at the mention of the moon, then told himself he was being rediculous.

**It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet.**

"Oh so like Malfoy on a good day," Ginny whispered to the trio making them burst into laughter.

**The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.**

**The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.**

"**The key's in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in."**

"Please don't," Hermione pleaded.

"**Good idea," said Ron nervously.**

"Horrible, horrible idea, why don't you lock it in the boys' room instead?"

**They edged toward the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. With one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it.**

"_**Yes!**_**"**

"Wait- is that the girls' bathroom?" Pavati asked, paling a bit. No one answered.

**Flushed with their victory, they started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner they heard something that made their hearts stop — a high, petrified scream — and it was coming from the chamber they'd just chained up.**

"HERMIONE!" the DA screamed.

"**Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron.**

"**It's the girls' bathroom!" Harry gasped.**

"_**Hermione!**_**" they said together.**

"So, _how_ did you guys become friends?" Lee asked.

"Surviving a troll really changes people's perspective of everyone and everything," Hermione answered making Lee looked more confused.

**It was the last thing they wanted to do, but what choice did they have?**

"Get a teacher?" Sirius suggested.

"But of course, Gryffindors have too much of that stupid courage in them to think properly," A Ravenclaw said. Luna glared at the girl.

"They have more courage than you ever will have," she snapped, sounding very unlike her usual dreamy self.

**Wheeling around, they sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in their panic. Harry pulled the door open and they ran inside.**

**Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint.**

"Who wouldn't be?"

**The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.**

"**Confuse it!" Harry said desperately to Ron, and, seizing a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.**

**The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly,**

"Dudley was with you?" Fred asked.

"No... maybe it's Vermin?" George asked. Harry snorted.

**To see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.**

Most of the adults and students stiffened.

"**Oi, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Harry time to run around it.**

"Bloody hell guys, are you suicidal?" Seamus asked, shaken up a bit.

"**Come on, run, **_**run**_**!" Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her toward the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror.**

"Run Hermione, run!" the Gryffindors yelled.

**The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.**

Every Weasley paled and went wide eyed. Molly looking close to fainting.

**Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid:**

"That's the Harry way." The twins sang trying to calm the crowd down a bit. It didn't really work.

**He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind.**

"Ohhhhhh," everyone said, remembering Harry saying something about practicing that on his Uncle.

**The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped – it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.**

"Ewww," the girls chorused.

**Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club.**

**Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his own wand — not knowing what he was going to do he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: "**_**Wingardium Leviosa!**_**"**

"Guess that spell came in handy for you guys too," Sirius said, speaking for the first time since the battle started.

**The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over — and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.**

Some people cheered, others sighed with relief at the trio's victory.

**Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done.**

**It was Hermione who spoke first.**

"**Is it — dead?"**

"**I don't think so," said Harry, "I think it's just been knocked out."**

"By two eleven year olds and a twelve year old," Ron added.

**He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy grey glue.**

"**Urgh — troll boogers."**

More girls went 'Ew.'

**He wiped it on the troll's trousers.**

**A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the three of them look up. They hadn't realized what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars.**

"The whole castle kind of heard that," Cho said quietly.

**A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrellbringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.**

"He's nearly as big of a drama queen as your aunt." Ginny told Harry, who nodded in agreement.

**Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry. Harry had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white. Hopes of winning fifty points for Gryffindor faded quickly from Harry's mind.**

"You should've been rewarded that much, and you would've if Miss Granger told the truth," McGonagall said sternly.

"Wait, Hermione _lied_? To a _teacher_?" Seamus asked, shocked.

"**What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. "You're lucky you weren't killed.**

"Yeah... same with the next four years of school after that." Harry said.

**Why aren't you in your dormitory?"**

**Snape gave Harry a swift, piercing look. Harry looked at the floor. He wished Ron would put his wand down.**

**Then a small voice came out of the shadows.**

"**Please, Professor McGonagall — they were looking for me."**

"**Miss Granger!"**

**Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last.**

"**I went looking for the troll because I — I thought I could deal with it on my own — you know, because I've read all about them."**

**Ron dropped his wand. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher?**

"**If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone.**

**It was about to finish me off when they arrived."**

Everyone, including the Slytherins looked at the girl, shocked. Hermione Granger, top of the fifth year class, the goody two shoes, perfect Prefect, lied to teachers. It was nothing like the Hermione they knew.

**Harry and Ron tried to look as though this story wasn't new to them.**

"**Well — in that case…" said Professor McGonagall, staring at the three of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"**

**Hermione hung her head. Harry was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets.**

"**Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this,"**

"Before anyone says anything, I was in shock that the three of them were still alive," McGonagall said before someone could comment on the lack of points taken away.

**Said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."**

Again everyone looked at Hermione in shock.

**Hermione left.**

**Professor McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron.**

"**Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll.**

"And you were just lucky," She added intently.

**You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."**

**They hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until they had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else.**

Many people laughed.

"**We should have gotten more than ten points," Ron grumbled.**

"**Five, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's."**

"**Good of her to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we **_**did **_**save her."**

"**She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her," Harry reminded him.**

"Actually, the troll was already in the room so I'd have been doomed either way," Hermione said nervously.

**They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.**

"**Pig snout," they said and entered.**

**The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them. There was a very embarrassed pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said "Thanks," and hurried off to get plates.**

**But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.**

Realization came across everyone's faces.

"That's how you became friends?!" Colin asked, and the trio nodded. After a moment of silence, everyone started talking, hiped off of the adrenaline in the chapter.

"Will everyone please calm down?" Dumbledore said over his talking students. They did just that.

"So who wants to read next?"

"I do!" Wood said, certain the next chapter was the Quidditch match.

"**Quidditch."**

**AN: DONE! FINALLY! It good? Bad? Please tell. (Dndchk: I LOVE THAT YOU BROUGHT IN TONKS!)**

**Please vote on the poll on my page to tell me who you want next in the story!**

**Also I just want to make it clear to everyone the last chapter was a sneak peak to the near future of the story, I'm hoping during one of the intense moment of the 'Chamber of Secrets." So be patient, ok? Again, updates will be slow for the next month or two so be patent.**

**Love you guys!**

**-Kat**

**(And Dndchk :D)**


	15. The Great Family Reunion

**An: Hey guys! Thank you for being patent, I'm updating because I was lucky not to be busy today! Otherwise that high school is amazing. How was your first days? Please tell! **

**I got my homecoming dress! It's absolutely awesome!**

**Polls closed! I chose the top three people, two of them are entering this chapter. The other one later in the series. Voldemort lost (to my great relief) but not by much, he got 10 percent of the votes!**

**Sorry how short it is, I'm having a minor case of writers block.**

**Disclaimer: Though I am the witch of the family I don't own any of this. **

Wood was about to read on when a blinding bright light suddenly appeared in the center of the hall. No one but the adults brought out there wands at this. That's when they started hearing the voices.

"Bloody hell James what did you do!" A female voice screeched.

"Nothing it's working I think. The spells supposed to bring us to the great hall!" 'James' answered. The two people started arguing as the light faded. You could clearly make out Lily and James Potter. The adults all dropped wands there speechless.

James and Lily looked around the hall.

"Why is everyone in here? Its hours past curfew." Lily whispered.

"Even weirder thing is there's an older version of Padfoot and Moony, and three others who look like me, except two of them have eyes like yours." Lily noticed them too; her eyes widened.

"James Potter you brought us into the future!" she smacked his arm.

"What?"

"You. Brought. Us. To. The. Future." She clarified. James's eyes widened behind his round glasses. He looked at all of the kids, then Remus and Sirius, who looked ready to pass out, then to the staff table.

"Since when is Snivellus part of Hogwarts staff?" James asked failing at choking back laughter. Lily once again smacked his arm. She looked up at Professor Dumbledore, who looked nearly as shocked as the rest of the hall.

"Professor Dumbledore, what year is it?"

"1996." He answered quietly. "And if I may ask, what year are you in? I mean at Hogwarts."

"Our fifth year, can you please explain what's going on?"

"We are doing a reading about your son's life." Dumbledore said simply.

"What's so important about my son? It's not like he defeated Voldemort or anything." Only the two fifth years nearly burst into laughter. Lily suddenly got serious. "Wait who's the father?" the question was more directed to Sirius or Remus.

"James is," Sirius said solemnly. James started cheering; Lily went pale and smacked him.

"As if I would have a child with Potter here, now who's the father?"

"Mum…. or Lily," Harry corrected himself standing up, he didn't want to make it more awkward then it already was. "My name is Harry James Potter, I'm you and James's son." Lily didn't look convinced. "If you don't believe me look in my eyes and tell me you don't." Lily did what was told, he looked into his eyes, but became speechless. Looking into Harry's eyes was like looking into her own in a mirror.

"You have my eyes." She said quietly. Harry smiled holding back tears.

"Yeah I do," Harry took a deep breath and looked at his father who's excitement was replaced with confusion.

"Why does nearly everyone here look like they've seen a ghost?" No one answered, "Come on guys! You're leaving us clueless here!"

"It's because you died Halloween on 1981, protecting Harry." Hermione choked out bravely. Lily looked ready to faint.

"H-How." James asked. Every student and staff except for Dumbledore looked at the floor.

"Voldemort." Dumbledore said. With that Lily fainted, James caught her before he hit the floor. "Madam Pomfrey why don't you take Lily and James to the infirmary, give them both a potion to help their shock, Remus, Sirius, you're free to go with them, Harry for now I'd like you to stay here. Your parents are in enough shock as is." Harry nodded; Madam Pomfrey levitated Lily and walked out of the hall, the three Marauders following.

"I think we're going to stop there for today." Umbridge said.

"Well then let's have dinner and head back to the common rooms for the night, I will find room for our guest to sleep." Dumbledore waved his hands and the food appeared. Harry looked at Hermione.

"Spread the word to the DA, and all of the Weasley's to meet in the Room of Requirements after dinner. Hopefully my mum and dad will be well enough to join us with Remus and Sirius. I'm going to talk to the kids and Malfoy."

"Wait you want Malfoy to come too? You know he'll just turn in the DA."

"Oh he wouldn't dare with the piece of information we're going to give him."

"You sure we can trust them with this type of thing?" Ron chipped in in the middle of chewing a piece of chicken.

"As much as I don't like him he has the right to know about his own kid." Ron didn't look convinced but nodded. Harry got up and went over to the next generation kids. "Meet in the room of requirement after dinner. We all need to talk." He whispered in James's ear. He nodded and told the same to his brother, cousin, and friends.

Harry walked over to the Slytherin table.

"Malfoy we need to talk." He growled and looked at Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy's father. "Alone."

"Fine." He got up and walked out the hall followed by Harry. "Now what do you want."

"Meet in the room of requirements after dinner, there's someone I think you need to meet."

"If it's your parents I'm not interested, if it's those weird kids, I'm in, because if I didn't know better one of them is a Malfoy."

"Wow that was easier than I thought, I didn't even need to threaten you not to tell Umbridge."

"You think I truly like that toad? The only reason I joined her stupid group is to be able to punish you and the rest of your little group of friends." Malfoy snarled. Harry chuckled and went to finish his dinner.

* * *

Harry stood in front of the group of people and sighed.

"Today isn't a regular DA meeting; I actually wanted to explain a few things to you." He nodded at the Next Generation kids who stood up.

"First off, we're not Dumbledore's nieces or nephews, or from anywhere near Ireland, we're from the future." The room was silent for a moment. "WHAT!" everyone yelled.

"Everyone settle down and let them explain!" Harry yelled, everyone went quiet immediately.

"This part is going to freak you guys out a bit more. My name is Albus Severus Potter, and this is my brother James Sirius Potter, our cousin Rose Jane Weasley, and our close friend Scorpius Malfoy, and Teddy Lupin." Now everyone is speechless, Fred broke the tension.

"It's a great family reunion!"

**An: Yeah I couldn't wait, I needed Lily and James to come in, and I needed the Next Gen kids to tell the rest of the Weasley's, DA, and Draco because, well, it'll add more drama. xD Thank you for being so patent with me you guys are amazing for that. Truthfully I have absolutely no clue when I'm going to update again. The teachers give more homework then I can handle some nights, I'm also on Color Guard and am going to be helping build a float for homecoming so yeah, I got no time this month. So please be patent! **

**R&R **


	16. How they Come to Be

**Hi guys! Only reason I'm updating is because I just found out recently that the newest of my cousins (every one of them are male except for 3 and we have a huge family) is a girl! So this chapter is dedicated to her. (She's due on my birthday too!)**

**What ruined the good news is the next day I got sick…homework piled up. **

**Another thing is I know how much you guy's love the flashbacks, this chapter has a ton of them, please give me feedback. **

**Also I'm looking for a new Beta so if your interested PM me. **

**Disclaimer- don't own Harry Potter, if I did there would be a real school in Scotland named Hogwarts. **

Harry looked over at his mother and father who just walked in with Sirius and Remus.

"They all know the truth?" Sirius asked. All the Potter's (minus James sr.) nodded.

"The truth about what?" Lily asked quietly.

"That you have three grandchildren." James Jr. said confidently.

"God please tell me you traveled from the future." James Sr. said making the room laugh.

Rose spoke, "Yep, and we're guessing you all have a lot of questions, we are willing to answer truthfully but not always the full truth." The room went silent.

"Who's the mum's?!" Seamus called. Ron, Hermione, Harry and even Remus started turning red.

"Me and James's mum is Ginny Potter, Scorpius's is Astoria Malfoy, Rose's mum is Hermione Weasley, and Teddy's mum is Nymphadora Tonks." The Weasley's looked shocked between Hermione and Ginny. They all face Harry.

"You marry my baby sister?" Bill asked glaring daggers into Harry's skull. Fred, George, and Charlie all are doing the same.

Harry looked at them all awkwardly. "Umm I guess so…" the four older Weasley's looked at each other as if they were speaking to one another.

"I guess we're fine with it, I mean you guys have been in love with each other since the beginning." Charlie said.

"What?!" everyone including Harry and Ginny yelled, the Weasley brothers continued.

"But if you hurt her-"Fred started.

"We'll hunt you down."

"Boys!" Molly yelled. Harry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Ok are there any other questions?" Scorpius asked clapping his hands together.

"Yeah!" Draco yelled, "How did a Malfoy become friends with the Weasley's and Potter's?"

"Well it started out like any other day on the Hogwarts Express, everyone was staring…"

"_James! Why is everyone staring!? Mum and dad truthfully didn't make it too clear!"_

"_You know what I know Al, dads famous for defeating a wizard named Voldemort, mum, Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron, and the rest of the family came famous the same way."_

"_I still don't think they are telling the whole truth…"Albus mumbled under his breath. _

"_James! Louis figured it out!" Lysander yelled from a compartment down the hall._

"_Al, Rosie, don't get yourself killed, see ya!" James bolted. The two cousins sighed and continued their way down the hall. All the compartments were full except for one with a familiar looking blond in it. _

"_Malfoy?" Rose asked politely. Scorpius looked away from the window and towards Rose and Albus. "Do you mind if we sit here? Everywhere else is full…" _

"_Sure." He said quietly. The two sat across from the blond. _

"_I'm Rose and this is my cousin Albus." _

"_Scorpius, but if you like you can call me Scorp, but please don't call me Malfoy, it makes people think I'm like my father or Grandfather."_

"_Dad said that your father helped stop the war." Albus said quickly. _

"_My grandfather seemed to have caused it, and did you parents ever tell why they don't like my parents much?" the two shook their heads. "When our parents went to school they didn't get along. My father was a death eater…" Albus cut him off. _

"_But you're not like either of them." _

"_What?" Scorp asked shocked. _

"_You're not like either of them; I can see it in your eyes. _

"_You're right, I'm not, but I'm still going to be put into Slytherin." _

"_Who say's Gryffindor's and Slytherin's can't be friends?" _

"It's surely isn't as action packed as our parents but it still worked out nicely. Still getting used to the idea of Rose and Scorp dating…."

"Wait what?" The Weasley's (minus Ron) and Draco asked. Fred changed the subject.

"What did you find by the way?"

"A new flavor of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans." James said, "It was gunpowder." The muggle borns looked disgusted. Harry changed the subject.

"Did you say that Draco was a Death Eater?"

"Well more is forced to. Voldemort threatened to torture and kill him if he didn't. He never wanted to." Harry glared at Draco, but nodded.

"I've got a question." Ginny said, "How many Weasley's and Potter's are there?" James, Albus, and Rose looked at each other.

"Well."

"There's Victorie, Dominique, Louis," Rose started.

"Molly, Lucy." James continued.

"The second set of Weasley twins Roxanne and Fred Jr."

"My brother Hugo."

"And our sister Lily." The Potter brothers finished together. Everyone looked astonished.

"Oh and did I mention all of them are red head except for Victorie and us two?" James asked.

"Oh they're all also Gryffindor."

"And everyone is third, fifth, or sixth years?" Rose added.

"Well except for Victorie who's dating Teddy over here."

"Bloody hell will you slow down?!" Dean finally snapped.

"I've got a question." Lily said surprising everyone. "Well this one is more towards Harry, well Padfoot has told us that he's been in Azkaban for all these years because of Wormtail, and Moony wasn't allowed to keep Harry, so where have you been living?" Harry sighed; he knew his mother won't like the answer.

"With Aunt Petunia." Lily groaned.

"You've got to be bloody joking me! I can't imagine how horrible she's been treating you!"

"You'll find out soon don't worry; now I got a question for my dad, Sirius, and Remus. Why do you and Snape hate each other so much?" James sighed and looked at his older friends.

"It's a very long story, but for now let's just say that we all used to be like you and Malfoy." Harry mouthed Oh.

"I've got one last question before we head up to our dorms." Hermione said. "Where'd you get the books?"

"Let me tell you that." Teddy said smiling.

_A muggle bookstore. Why the bloody hell was Harry making Teddy go shopping at a muggle book store? It's not like he doesn't read or know his basic facts about the muggle world. He knew how to use muggle money, and even the name of the muggle prime minister. What else does he need to know?_

_But Harry insisted that he needed to learn about both worlds, that he'd be a better wizard if he did. _

_Ted looked at the best sellers and froze. He picked up a paperback book and read _"Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone"

"_Bloody hell!" he yelled. Many people gave him odd looks. One woman though, looked over at him and smiled. _

"_You're Teddy Lupin aren't you?" she asked in a hushed voice. _

"_Matter's who's asking?" he growled fumbling with his wand in his pocket. _

"_Someone like you. I need to talk to you privately." Ted hesitated, but sighed and followed the middle aged woman to an open table. _

"_Now tell me who you are and how you know me."_

"_Names Joanne Rowling, I'm a rare kind of seer who sees only one person or one group of people, mine was sadly Harry Potter. I truthfully thought it was dreams because they only happened when I was asleep." Teddy looked confused. _

"_You didn't know you were a seer? How did you find out?" _

"_I met Minerva who explained to me that I am a squib, and told me about my bloodline." Teddy was beyond confused now. _

"_I know this is all confusing but I need you to do me a favor. Harry doesn't know about these books and I don't want him to know about them yet, but I do want you, Albus, James, Lily, Hugo, Scorpius, and Rose to read these with you." _

"_How would I be able to do that? Everyone is at Hogwarts already." _

"_I've already talked to the headmistress, congratulations you're the new transfigurations teacher." Teddy gave her a half smile. "Read these seven books by Halloween, then when you're finished used this spell and send them to the past, and this potion to send yourself to the past, got it?" Teddy nodded. _

"And you trusted this woman?" Harry asked shocked.

"I kind of had no choice, it was either I had you guys and the kids reads them or the future Harry reads them and hunts down this Rowling woman for writing about him without permission." All the Potter's and Weasley's chuckled. "I also found this a chance to change your future, to make it happier then it would be without the books."

**An: I thought this was an ok place to end. Like the flashbacks or flash forwards? Yes? No? Again Grammar may be bad because I don't have a beta right now so PM me if your interested. R&R**

**Oh also Part one of the story is coming close to an end, maybe around ten chapters? Yes I decided to make this an eight part story because its already over 73,000 words. **

**Anywho Homecomings coming up in two weeks! Lol sorry off topic. Please R&R**


	17. The Prank

**An: Alright guy's I promise this is the last chapter before they get back to reading.**

**Guess what guys? It's the time we've all been waiting for. THE BIG PRANK! Well, I guess it isn't a prank but I do think it's something the twins, James Jr., and the Marauders would come up with. I feel Harry's a bit OOC for agreeing to do it at all but hey it's different. :P**

**Also thank you to my new beta LittleMe15**

**Don't know why I have to keep saying this but I don't own anything.**

Harry sat in the common room quarter to midnight waiting for the twins. It's been a long day and he was tired. Though he wouldn't get any sleep, he still wanted to try. Nearly ten minutes later two familiar red heads walked in, not from the dormitories though, but from the portrait hole, followed by both James's, Sirius, and Remus.

The twins smirked at the surprised look on Harry's face.

"They followed us when we were heading to the kitchen-"

"Figured we were up to no good." Fred said.

"Well at least the older two did, James and James were going for a snack anyway-"

"We all ran into each other."

"James and James wanted to help the prank-"

"They managed to convince Moony and Padfoot into doing it as well for old times' sake-"

"So here we all are!" George finished. A bit overwhelmed Harry sat down in his favourite seat.

"I'm just surprised you agreed to do a prank Prongslet." Sirius said sitting on the right side of his Godson while Harry's father sat on the left, Moony next to Sirius, and one twin in each chair, and James Jr. on the floor.

"Now that we got past the fact that my son, who apparently isn't a prankster, is pranking the whole school, let's think of a good prank."

"Yeah, just one rule, nothing to get anyone hurt." Harry stated. The others nodded.

"Well what do you have in mind?" James Jr. asked. The twins smirked.

"Well, since the toad hasn't made it too good of a year-"

"We figured the school needed some Christmas spirit."

"Agreed." Moony and Padfoot said at once.

"Well why don't we jinx the teachers so whenever they speak they sing Christmas carols?" James Jr. suggested. The twins' eyes lit up, so did Harry's.

"Or maybe we could put a spell on them to turn them into the closest Christmas figure they are, like Dumbledore would be Santa, and McGonagall would be Mrs. Clause."

"I think I've got a better idea." Prongs said smiling deviously.

Breakfast came too quickly for Harry's liking. He, his son, and the Marauders were up until nearly two planning the big prank. It's not like he wasn't used to breaking the rules by now, hell, he probably broke nearly a hundred school rules a year. And if it wasn't for protecting the school, he'd been stuck at the Dursley's full time after the end of first year. It's just if the whole prank goes wrong, it could cause complete disaster.

"You all right Harry?" Ginny asked from behind him. He blushed bright red and nodded. He still hasn't gotten over that by the end of all this they'd most likely be in love.

Harry sat next to his father, mother, the rest of the Weasley's, and Hermione. He was glad to see that James Jr., Fred, George, and Sirius were gone. The "prank" was about to begin.

Sirius transfigured his, James's, and the twin's brooms into reindeer. "Ready?" He asked looking excited. They all smiled and nodded. "On three then, one, two, three!" The reindeer lifted off the ground and started flying into the great hall.

Once in there Sirius cast a spell on the ceiling to make it snow. Many people screamed, others cheered.

Next, James Jr. cast a spell on all the teachers, transfiguring Dumbledore into Santa, Minerva into Mrs. Clause, Umbridge into the Grinch, and the rest of the teachers into elves. The whole school was laughing now, but they weren't finished.

Fred and George flew over the adult guests and dropped a hat on each of them; they all turned into snowmen and women.

And for the finale, the four of them plus Prongs, Remus and Harry cast a spell on the teachers and snow-people. The teachers stood up and cleared their throats a little shocked. The adults got up and went to the front of the hall and started dancing while the teachers started singing "_Frosty the Snowman". _Once finished the teachers turned back to their normal selves, the snow-people turned back into the guests and the reindeer turned back into brooms. Everyone—including the teachers and guests—cheered as they all flew out of the hall. Although Minerva a bit thin around the mouth.

What a perfect way to start the morning.

**An: Don't kill me I know it's short but I have school tomorrow and I'm having a (sorry for my foul language) bitchy day. (A long story that you don't need to hear about.)**

**I have no clue when I'm going to update next, my goal is by Tuesday but no promises, homecoming is this weekend!**

**So how did you like the prank? Good? Bad? Yeah I suck at pranks! Not really my thing. But hey, a successful writer always goes outside their comfort zone. Any who please review! We're almost to 200!**


	18. Sorry Guy's, HITIUS

Kill me now but for the time being all my stories are going on hittius. It's not because of my laziness or any writers block of any sort, but because I can't keep up with my life as it is. From everyday homework to my social life or school clubs to helping plan a baby shower. Hope all you guys understand. But please don't remove me from your alerts because once my life settles down a bit (hopefully after new years or hopefully sooner) I will most certainly continue.

Thank you for the constant support and help you've guys have given me.

Now because I have to write something here's a quick crossover of Supernatural, Harry Potter, Walking Dead, and Doctor Who.

**"Who are you?" Dean Winchester asked pointed the gun at the teen. **

**"Harry Potter now you know who the Doctor is right?" **

**"Of course why?" Sam Winchester asked lowering his weapon. **

**"Call him and tell him the Daleks have started the zombie apocalypse in America." Dean groaned.**

**"See Sammy! If we leave the states for one day the who damn world ends!" **

**"Dude, I know how you feel." Harry replied. **


	19. Quidditch and Goodbyes

**An: HEY GUYS! I'M BACKKKKK! (Don't get too excited) Everything has just been hellish in the potterheads life. My teachers and family just don't want to give me a break**

**Ok I'm going to be truthful. This was all typed up for over a month….I just didn't want to post this because after this chapter I'm going to be done with the story. It's not that I lost interest in HP or anything, its just the story isn't too original and I've just lost interest in writing this or really anything. I really hope you understand. **

**Disclaimer- don't own HP **

For the rest of breakfast everyone ate cheerfully, talking about the prank. The only one who didn't look that happy about it was Umbridge.

_I'm going to get back at Potter and his friends, if it's the last thing I do! _She declared as everyone finished eating.

When the food disappeared Dumbledore cleared his throat. Everyone went silent.

"First off, I'd like to thank the Marauders, Mr. Ryan, the Weasley twins, and Mr. Potter for the amazing show this morning. I truly think it brought everyone's Christmas sprits out." Everyone clapped. "Also" Dumbledore said over the claps, "We added something to the list of 'Not to do's' while reading the story. No points will be taken off at all, even if it's for things done presently, now, Mr. Wood would you continue and read the next chapter?" the book floated to Wood.

**Quidditch. **The Quidditch attic smiled and most of the hall cheered.

**As they entered November, the weather turned very cold. The mountains around the school became icy grey and the lake like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered in frost. Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs windows defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch field, bundled up in a long moleskin overcoat, rabbit fur gloves, and enormous beaver skin boots.**

**The Quidditch season had begun. **

"That reminds me who was all on the Quidditch team first year?" James asked.

"I was seeker, Wood was keeper, the twins were beaters, and the chasers were Angelina, Katie, and Alicia." Harry explained. James nodded and looked excited.

**On Saturday, Harry would be playing in his first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin.**

Many people shuttered remembering the brutal match.

**If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the house championship.**

**Hardly anyone had seen Harry play because Wood had decided that, as their secret weapon, Harry should be kept, well, secret. **

"Didn't stay a secret for long." Wood glared at the twins who smiled innocently back at him.

**But the news that he was playing Seeker had leaked out somehow, and Harry didn't know which was worse - people telling him he'd be brilliant or people telling him they'd be running around underneath him holding a mattress**

Harry laughed nervously. "After what happened I wouldn't have minded."

**It was really lucky that Harry now had Hermione as a friend. He didn't know how he'd have gotten through all his homework without her,**

"Mr. Potter I best hope you don't mean you were cheating off of Miss. Granger?" Umbridge asked cheerfully. If she gets proof that he was cheating he could be suspended or even expelled.

"What he meant professor is that I helped him out by looking over his essays and questions. I would never let him copy." Hermione injected. Umbridge huffed.

**what with all the last-minute Quidditch practice Wood was making them do. She had also lent him Quidditch Through the Ages, which turned out to be a very interesting read.**

"I've read it five times!" a fourth year Hufflepuff yelled making the hall laugh.

**Harry learned that there were seven hundred ways of committing a Quidditch foul and that all of them had happened during a World Cup match in 1473;**

"Wish I were there." Ron said dreamily, much like Luna. The James's nodded in agreement as did Sirius and Wood.

**that Seekers were usually the smallest and fastest players, and that most serious Quidditch accidents seemed to happen to them; that although people rarely died playing Quidditch, referees had been known to vanish and turn up months later in the Sahara Desert.**

Some people laughed uneasily as this.

**Hermione had become a bit more relaxed about breaking rules since Harry and Ron had saved her from the mountain troll,**

"Who wouldn't?" Hermione asked. Ron and Harry shrugged.

**and she was much nicer for it. The day before Harry's first Quidditch match the three of them were out in the freezing courtyard during break, and she had conjured them up a bright blue fire that could be carried around in a jam jar.**

Hermione paled. Snape would find out it was her who set his robes on fire. She wasn't going to hear the end of it.

**They were standing with their backs to it, getting warm, when Snape crossed the yard. Harry noticed at once that Snape was limping.**

Everyone looked up at Snape, who was looking awkwardly at the school. Was that because of the three headed dog? Is Snape the one who was trying to steal it? All these questions running through everyone's heads.

_Great. _Snape thought _Now the whole school is thinking I'm guilty for taking the stone. _

**Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved closer together to block the fire from view;**

"Not going to work." The twins sang.

"worth a shot though…" Hermione mumbled.

**they were sure it wouldn't be allowed.**

"Nothing we do is for the most part." Harry laughed. Lily looked over at her son. He surely was James's boy, but hers? She didn't see any part of him like her. She wasn't ready to judge though.

**Unfortunately, something about their guilty faces caught Snape's eye. He limped over. He hadn't seen the fire, but he seemed to be looking for a reason to tell them off anyway.**

**"What's that you've got there, Potter?" It was Quidditch Through the Ages. Harry showed him.**

**"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," said Snape.**

"That's not a rule!" the Gryffindor's yelled angrily.

"It should though…" Madam Pince mumbled.

**"Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."**

The Gryffindor's glared at Snape.

**"He's just made that rule up," Harry muttered angrily as Snape limped away. "Wonder what's wrong with his leg?" **

**"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him,"**

"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley yelled.

"How do you know it was me?"

"Because she knows I'll never say it." Hermione smirked.

**said Ron bitterly.**

Mrs. Weasley gave Ron the "mom work".

**The Gryffindor common room was very noisy that evening.**

"What's new with that?" Prongs asked.

**Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat together next to a window. Hermione was checking Harry and Ron's Charms homework for them. She would never let them copy**

"How else would these two learn?"

**("How will you learn?"),**

Everyone snorted. Some things never change.

**but by asking her to read it through, they got the right answers anyway.**

**Harry felt restless. He wanted Quidditch Through the Ages back, to take his mind off his nerves about tomorrow. Why should he be afraid of Snape?**

"Plenty of reasons."

"One, He hates you."

"Two, he hates me." Prongs said.

"Three, whenever you're near him you find a way to get into trouble."

**Getting up, he told Ron and Hermione he was going to ask Snape if he could have it.**

"Brave man." The twins said together.

**"Better you than me," they said together, but Harry had an idea that Snape wouldn't refuse if there were other teachers listening.**

"How do you know there was going to be more teachers with him?"

"No clue…"

**He made his way down to the staffroom and knocked. There was no answer.**

**He knocked again. Nothing.**

**Perhaps Snape had left the book in there. It was worth a try. He pushed the door ajar and peered inside - and a horrible scene met his eyes.**

"If it horrified you, Harry, it truly must have been horrifying." Seamus said.

**Snape and Filch were inside, alone.**

"Oh god-"

"I've always had a feeling about those two…" Fred laughed. The professors glared at him.

"Mr. Weasley!" They all yelled.

**Snape was holding his robes above his knees.**

"Bloody hell!" Everyone with dirty minds yelled. Snape was bright red now.

**One of his legs was bloody and mangled. Filch was handing Snape bandages.**

"What'd he do?" Justin asked.

**"Blasted thing," Snape was saying. "How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once."**

"He got bit! He was after whatever the Hagrid took from the vault!" a group of students yelled.

"I swear sometimes the school worse than Potter when it comes to this stuff." McGonagall said. Fudge snorted.

**Harry tried to shut the door quietly, but - "POTTER!" Snape's face was twisted with fury as he dropped his robes quickly to hide his leg. Harry gulped.**

**"I just wondered if I could have my book back." **

"Way to cut to the chase Potter." Draco scoffed.

**GET OUT! OUT!"**

**Harry left, before Snape could take any more points from Gryffindor. He sprinted back upstairs.**

"That is the bravest thing you've done so far Harry." Dean said smiling.

**"Did you get it?" Ron asked as Harry joined them. "What's the matter?" In a low whisper, Harry told them what he'd seen.**

"He surely wasn't that detailed…" Ron mumbled.

**"You know what this means." he finished breathlessly. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween! That's where he was going when we saw him - he's after whatever it's guarding!**

"Oh no…" Most of the teachers grumbled.

**I'm cutting it here guys! I know it's in the middle of a chapter but I just can't anymore. Please understand and thank you to the following people for following me all the way through!**

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**Also a huge thank you for these people who favorite the story!**

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LUNA GURLZ

Lady Knight of Masbolle101

LandOfTheLivingSkys

Lesdel1998

Lightningblade49

LittleMe15

Littleforest

LizE112

Loki Snape-Nara-Winchester

Love is Unwritten

Lozzien Lavender

Luna George

Marchtember-Oneteenth

Meggie Ray

Merasoua

MistBlade8

Mohits096

0971

MzPeachesMellark

Naruto Snape-Potter-Black

.Namikaze

Natsuki-chan2912

Ninna-Kagamine

POMForever

Padfoo

Pasiphae Nialla Potter

PendragonAurura

PuppyProngs

Raccoon Girl

Ravenclaw1998

Rose Potter4

Roselillypotterevens

Safi-ry

Sakura Orion Potter

Sammiieeoo

Saskue's-Killer112

ScarletteSorceress

Shadowkiller13

Sunnbeem

T-Striker

THEweirdohasenteredthebuildi ng

Tabitha Simms

Taiyo-chan the Neko Writer

TheAngelsarewatching

The Good Child

TwinklyMarshmellowSnowPuffle 

WeasleyTheAgent

WildDragon26221

adig9

alaskanwoman25

alice142011

bpevans

bretta123

britt1999

castrolagos

cherrys-on-top

cici394

crazygirl913

darkeningwolf

dawnlilypotter

doctorwhoamie

ellakatherine

ericus

fated slayer

femalefarrier

foxgirl1998

gracefuldarkangel

haleyjs86

hanky90

hannah. 

hatter sammy

hikarisama87

hplover1999

ice heart mat

jabber2033

jeanuttenut

joe lama 102

lealover1

lean238

leyreyeye

llpi

may801

mimichamp

mrileyrn1

mythlover92

nautilus4357

never3kno

nightstar2011

o-WinterQueen-o

percabethlover98

princessg101

rivellon

sargent-titan

scrambledark

serenityselena

snoopykid

sujulove

supermandybear

thekeeblerelf

vampireharry the 2

verylexiful

werewolfgirl11

willy008

x Angel Warrior x

xXxScarletxXxSakuraxXx

**Thank you to all the anamounous, which there are too many to name!**

**If you want to find me on tumblr my username is theblonde2243 I post things from nearly every good Tv show/movie out there!**

**If I do end up writing anything more that's Harrypotterish I will write a little note in the description thingy mer bober. **

**Again thank you and I love you all! **

**~The End~**


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